Rate My Professor Melissa Hakman

Melissa Hakman, Ph.D., serves as Chair of the Psychology Department, Director of the Psy.D. program in Clinical Psychology, Professor of Psychology, and Clinical Faculty at Oklahoma City University in the Petree College of Arts and Sciences. She earned her B.A., M.S., and Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. Hakman has built a distinguished career at Oklahoma City University, progressing from associate professor and department chairperson to her current full professorship and leadership roles. She previously directed the Child Advocacy Studies Training program and was instrumental in establishing the Psy.D. program in 2017, a five-year, 120-credit-hour practitioner-scholar training initiative emphasizing evidence-based psychological assessment, psychotherapy, supervision, consultation, and research skills for diverse populations, including those in primary care, rural mental health, and integrated settings. The program features low student-to-faculty ratios, practicum experiences, internships, and customizable electives such as trauma assessment and addictions treatment.

Under Hakman's direction, the Psy.D. program attained accreditation on contingency status from the American Psychological Association in February 2023, with a self-study submission planned for September 2025 toward full accreditation by 2028. She has stated, 'This achievement reflects the hard work and dedication of our faculty, staff, and students in maintaining the highest standards of education and training in psychology.' Hakman's scholarly contributions include peer-reviewed publications on parent-child interaction therapy, particularly for child physical abuse prevention. Notable works are 'Change trajectories for parent-child interaction sequences during parent-child interaction therapy for child physical abuse' (Child Maltreatment, 2009, with M. Chaffin, B. Funderburk, J.F. Silovsky), cited over 140 times, and 'The effect of task and maternal verbosity on compliance in toddlers' (Infant and Child Development, 2009). Her research, affiliated with collaborations at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, explores intervention mechanisms in high-risk families and has garnered over 115 citations across three key publications. Hakman has earned the Outstanding Faculty Award in 2017 and the Faculty Teaching Academy Fellow recognition in 2011 from the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. She contributes to public engagement through events like 'Get Psyched' for prospective students and mental health screenings.