Jennica Paz, Ph.D.

Email

Primary Email: [email protected]

Phone/Fax

Primary Phone: 619-594-3198
Fax: 619-594-7025

Building/Location

North Education - 191
Mail Code: 1179

Bio

Dr. Jennica Paz is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist and Licensed Clinical Psychologist. She was born and raised in San Diego, CA, and her educational journey has taken her to UC Santa Barbara (Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology) and USC Children's Hospital Los Angeles. She is passionate about ensuring high quality and culturally affirming service delivery to local capable youth with histories of adverse life circumstances. Dr. Paz has a number of research interests, publications, and presentations at local and national conferences since 2010 related to positive youth development among CLD youth, strengths-based assessment, trauma resiliency among foster youth, school- based mental health, school violence/safety, psychometrics, assessment and intervention among CLD students, and strength-focused psychodiagnostic assessment among neurodiverse students. 

In 2012, Dr. Paz was awarded the CASP Michael Goodman Research Award for her work related to a screening measure for school violence, safety, and victimization. Presently, she is an associate professor and Director of Fieldwork Experiences for the School Psychology EdS Program at San Diego State University, and serves as the southern california board member representative for the School Psychology Educators of California (SPEC). Additionally, she serves as Co-PI for Project HEAL (OSEP Funded Grant), an interdisciplinary collaboration specializing in supporting youth in foster care, as well as the Wellness Strengths & Assessment Lead for the Holistic Learning for Higher Education in Prison/ Valuing Incarcerated Scholars Through Academics (VISTA) through the Institute of Arts, Humanity and Social Justice at SDSU & Centinela Men’s State Prison. She is active in various service commitments across campus and in her community, and seeks to implement strengths-focused interventions with at-promise populations. 

Publications

Paz, J. L., Romero, M. E., & Davila, M. (2027, in press). Direct and indirect academic interventions for multilingual learners. In R. Anguiano, C. Robonsin-Zañartu, & S. Jimerson (Eds.), Supporting multilingual learners at school: Developing strength-based competencies in school psychology. Oxford University Press.

Furlong, M. J., Paz, J. L., Carter, D., Dowdy, E., & Nylund-Gibson, K. (2022). Extending validation of a covitality social emotional health measure to middle school students. Contemporary School Psychology. First online 23 March 2022.

Paz, J. L., & Coats, S. (2022). Contemporary assessment of youth comprehensive psychosocial assets: School-based approaches and applications. Handbook of Positive Psychology Assessment Psychological Assessment – Science and Practice. European Association of Psychological Assessment (EAPA).

Paz, J.L., & Kim., E.K. (2022). Covitality: Cultivating psychosocial strengths and well-being. In K. A. Allen, M. J. Furlong, D. A. Vella-Brodrick, & S. M. Suldo (Eds.). Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools: Supporting Process and Practice (3rd ed., pp 38-55). Routledge, Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.4324/9781003013778-5

Paz, J. L., Lambros, K., & Lewis, S. (2021). Strengths-based approaches for assessing student well-being. In K. A. Allen, A. Reupert, & L. Oades (Eds.), Building Better Schools with Evidence-based Policy: Adaptable Policy for Teachers and School Leaders. New York, NY: Routledge.

Ingraham, C., Paz, J.L., Lambros, K., & Green, T. D. (2019). Multicultural supervision in school psychology: Innovations in training, approaches and implementation. Trainers’ Forum, 36(1), 60-70.