Rate My Professor Justin Low

Justin Low is an Associate Professor and Department Chair for Counseling and School Psychology in the Benerd College of Education at the University of the Pacific. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin (2010), an M.A. in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin (2008), and a B.S. in Psychology from Brigham Young University (2003). As a Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP), his research interests center on the study of intelligence and child development, including the developmental interplay of cognition, behavior, and social interaction, and their effects on outcomes such as academic achievement and behavior problems in adolescence and young adulthood. Low conducts psychometric research on intelligence tests to assess whether they measure the purported constructs consistently across childhood and pursues non-experimental research on the effects of cognitive ability on behavior problems.

In his teaching, Low delivers courses in counseling, consultation, research methods, and structural equation modeling. For the 'Psychotherapeutic Interventions' course in the Counseling Psychology program, he has pioneered a flipped classroom approach, with students reviewing voice-over PowerPoint lectures on Canvas before class to dedicate session time to role-playing exercises. Students alternate as therapists and clients, using 'time out' for guidance, while peers observe and identify skills like summarizing and open-ended questioning, fostering spontaneity akin to real counseling scenarios. This innovation has led to positive student feedback and better application of concepts in fieldwork. Low's key publications include 'Understanding the Contribution of a Father's Warmth on His Adolescent's Internalizing Behaviors' with L.L. Webster (2013), 'Exploring the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales' with A.N. Scott (2013), and 'The influence of auditory short-term memory on behavior problems in adolescence' (2015). He also serves as program lead for the university's new master's degree in marriage and family counseling.