Melanie Dirks
Professor
I am Professor and Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology (Faculty of Science). My contributions to teaching have been recognized with both the Leo Yaffe Award and the Principal’s Prize.
Trained as a clinical and developmental psychologist, my  focuses on (a) mapping the social and emotional skills that children, adolescents, and young adults need to develop and maintain healthy relationships with peers and siblings, and (b) understanding how interpersonal functioning contributes to psychological symptoms.
I am passionate about translating clinical training and scientific evidence into improved well-being in the Montréal community and beyond (); finding ways to get students (more than 5000 undergraduates so far) excited about the scientific study of child and adolescent development; figuring out the  for my courses; complaining about words deemed inadmissible by the editor of the New York Times Spelling Bee (see alee, nicotinic, inion, unmute, dyadic, undaunted, and vita).
Mentors have shaped every aspect of my career – from the research questions I choose to answer and how I choose to answer them to what I put on my syllabi and whether I should take that editorial position or say yes to that chapter invite. I am grateful to everyone who guided (and continues to guide) me, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to pay it forward as best I can, as well as to learn from junior colleagues.