Full-Time Faculty

Sheldon Helfing, MA, MSW
Professor
sheldon.helfing@canyons.edu
661/362-5884

Mr. Helfing earned his BA in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from California State University, Northridge.  His MA is also from CSUN, in Education, Educational Psychology, Counseling and Guidance.  His Master of Social Work is from the University of Washington, Seattle.

Professor Helfing's professional interests include marriage and the family, criminology, culture and socialization, and social psychology.

Anne Marenco has a BS in Family and Consumer Sciences with an emphasis in Teaching and an MS in Family and Consumer Sciences with an emphasis in Family Relations/Child Development from CSUN and an MA and Ph.D. in Sociology with emphases in Aging and Family from USC.

Dr. Marenco's sociological interests include relationships, aging, social psychology, and research methods and analysis.  Her professional interests include field studies, assessment, and distance education.  Her research interest is marital satisfaction.

Anne is married and has two children, a son in college and a daughter in graduate school.  She spends her spare time camping, quilting, traveling, and caring for her parents.

Professor Valentine earned her BA and MA in sociology at CSUN.  She also has a Mediation Certificate from the Center for Dispute Resolution. 

Ms. Valentine's professional interests include conflict resolution, gender issues, social movements, educational quality, and immigration. 

Mary has spent more than a decade studying the Women's Institute, England's oldest and largest women's organization, made up of more than 250,000 women in over 5,000 villages throughout England.   In the process she has become friends with the WI's most famous members, the Calendar Girls, who raised more than $2 million for Leukemia research by posing for a nude calendar.  Here Mary is surrounded by the Calendar Girls at a press conference in London.

Her personal interests include travel, especially in England, and photography www.maryvalentinephotography.com.

Pamela Williams-Páez, MA

Professor
pamela.williams-paez@canyons.edu
www.canyons.edu/faculty/paezp/
661/362-5904

Ms. Williams-P

Ms. Williams-Páez's research interests include stratification, social life in public spaces, and globalization.  Her teaching interests include gender, race, and class; and deviance. 

Writers who have influenced Ms. Williams-Páez include Howard Becker, June Jordan, James Baldwin, and Sherman Alexie.

Part-Time Faculty

Michelle Bell-Blossom

Michelle Bell-Blossom earned her AA degree in Letters, Arts and Sciences at Antelope Valley College, a BA degree in Sociology at CSU Bakersfield, and her Master’s in Sociology and Pan-African Studies at CSU Northridge.

Professor Blossom’s interests include African American history, race and ethnicity, social class and stratification, the sociology of education, marriage and family, dance, film and television, and hip-hop culture. At CSU Northridge she focused on the U.S. Educational system for her research in academic attainment levels and building a positive self-image in African American children. The title of her thesis is “Dance: A Model for Building a Positive Self-Image in African American Children.”

In her spare time, Michelle likes to be with family and friends, travel, teach dance, counsel students, and attend ballets, concert dances and Broadway shows. Michelle is an avid supporter of the performing arts.

Kim Bonfiglio earned her BA in Psychology at Carroll College in Montana and her Master's of Social Work degree at CSU Long Beach.

Professor Bonfiglio professional interests include child abuse, foster care, adolescence, child welfare, gangs, social services, homelessness, domestic violence, psychotherapy, criminology, and  aging/gerontology.

In her spare time, Professor Bonfiglio spends time with her family camping and traveling.

Mariana Branda, MA
mariana.branda@canyons.edu

Ms. Branda earned her BA and MA in Sociology with an emphasis in social psychology from CSUN

Professor Branda's professional interests include distance learning development, qualitative methods, culture, gender/class/race relations, social psychology, and, globalization.  She teaches online courses for College of the Canyons from her home in Argentina. 

Mariana spends her spare time with her family, reading, and traveling.

Natalie Buriel earned her BA in Sociology with an emphasis in Family Studies at the University of New Mexico and her Master’s in Social Work degree at New Mexico Highlands University. 

In addition to teaching Sociology Classes, Professor Buriel has also taught classes for older adults through the Continuing Education Department at COC.  She has a special interest in older adults and in providing services to those afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease or a related dementia.  She currently is employed by the Alzheimer’s Association and serves on the Professional Advisory Committee of the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center.

Natalie enjoys spending time with her family and friends, hiking, and training toward earning her black belt in Tae Kwon Do when she is not working.  

Kathryn Coleman. MA
kathryn.coleman@canyons.edu

Kathryn Coleman earned her BA in Sociology from UC Santa Barbara and her MA in Sociology at CSUN.

Professor Coleman’s sociological interests include sex and gender, race and class, and deviance. At UCSB she focused on the American prison system for her research in race and class, and at CSUN she wrote her thesis on the American prison system, focusing on recidivism among the criminally labeled.  The title of her thesis is "The American Prison System: Institutional and Social Factors Contributing to Recidivism."  In this project, she was able to further explore her main sociological interests by focusing on the general prison population and the social and institutional factors which generate and propagate high recidivism rates among criminalized individuals in the United States.

In her spare time, Ms. Coleman enjoys traveling.

Tracie Gardner, MA

Ms. Gardner earned her BA in Sociology with a minor in Religious Studies and her MA in Sociology from East Carolina University.

Ms. Gardner's teaching interests include social problems, women's studies, crime, research methods, and religion. In addition to teaching at COC, she teaches Sociology at CSU Northridge and works with the California Faculty Association. Ms. Gardner is also a first year student at Southwestern Law School.

Tyler P. Haugen, MA
Tyler.Haugen@canyons.edu
www.canyons.edu/faculty/haugent

In 1995, Dr. Houston earned her BA degree in Religion with a minor in Global Peace and Security at UCSB.  In 1998 she was awarded a certificate in Women’s Studies and an MA degree in Religion from The Florida State University.  In 2006, she completed a doctoral degree at Claremont Graduate University in Women Studies in Religion.  Her dissertation field research examined the intergenerational relationship between female Holocaust survivors and their granddaughters--the third generation. 

Dr. Houston's interdisciplinary academic foci are sociology of religion, self and society, women’s studies, comparative genocides, and field research.

Professor Im received BA in Sociology from UC Irvine and his MA in Sociology from CSU Fullerton with an emphasis in Race and Ethnicity.  His professional interests include Race and Ethnicity, Multiculturalism, Majority-Minority Relations, Asian American Studies, Popular Culture, and Marriage and Family. 

Austin's personal interests include spending time with family, movies (80s and 90s film buff), sports, and traveling.

Arman Mgerian
armanmg@hotmail.com
http://faculty.piercecollege.edu/mgeryaa/

Mr. Mgerian earned his M.A. and B.A from CSUN in the field of Sociology with a specialization in Criminology.  Upon graduation from graduate school, he was hired to teach Sociology and has been doing so since fall 2005. 

Professor Mgerian has taught several courses including Introduction to Sociology, Social Problems, Marriage and Family, Deviance, and Social Psychology.  He am currently working on a proposition for a new course in the  Sociology of Medicine at Pierce College.
 
Arman is happily married and awaiting a late December (2009) arrival of his first child.  He love to travel and is a black belt in the art of Judo, though he has been idle since 2007.

Gayle Pulliam graduated from College of the Canyons.  She has a BA in Sociology from California State University, Northridge and will be completing her MA in Sociology at CSUN this semester. Ms. Pulliam's expertise is in Criminology, Deviance, Gangs, and Social Problems. She has worked as a tutor and mentor for at risk adolescents, including active gang members. Gayle's objective in teaching Sociology is to get students to see their world through new eyes. If she can show them how often we are critical, judgmental, and prejudiced and can help them change their perspective she feels successful.

Although Gayle loves teaching she spends her spare time with her family, which includes three Chihuahuas.

Robert Wonser, MA

Professor Wonser earned his B.S. in Business Administration with an option in Marketing and his M.A. in Sociology from CSUN.  His research interests include culture, mass media, subcultures, popular culture, youth culture, consumerism, social stratification, criminology, and social psychology.