Faculty Bios

Bernard L. Richardson, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling

Bernard Richardson, Ph.D., is an associate professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at the Howard University School of Divinity. His primary role at the University, however, is serving as dean of the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel, in which he functions as the chief executive officer for religious affairs at the University. He is the fourth dean of the Chapel in the Howard's history. Dr. Richardson's past professional positions include: counseling specialist at the Michigan State University Counseling Center; associate professor with tenure at Southern Connecticut State University where he taught in the areas of counseling and school psychology; and Visiting Professor of Pastoral Theology at Hood Theological Seminary at Livingston College. Dr. Richardson is also an adjunct professor of pastoral counseling at the Hartford Seminary. He has made major scholarly contributions in the area of pastoral counseling, and he has lectured and taught courses at colleges and universities nationwide, including the Parks/King Lecture at Yale University Divinity School, and lectures/seminars at Princeton Theological Seminary, Hartford Seminary and Winston-Salem State University. He received his bachelor's degree in sociology from Howard University, the M.Div. degree from Yale University Divinity School, and the Master's and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan State University. He also received a National Institute of Mental Health Fellowship. Dr. Richardson is an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. He served for ten years as the pastor of the Archer Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Windsor, CT.