Aziza Ahmed

Aziza Ahmed is a fourth-year sociology doctoral student and Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Honors College at George Mason University. She holds a Master of Arts in Sociology from Mason and bachelor's degrees in Sociology and Political Science from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington.

Aziza's research interrogates how systems of knowledge shape institutional practice and reproduce inequality across race, gender, and class. Drawing from political science, organizational sociology, and Black feminist thought, her work examines the contested terrain of epistemic legitimacy: how political struggles over what counts as legitimate knowledge inform education policy, organizational governance, and the allocation of public resources.

Currently, she serves as a research assistant for Fairfax County's Economic Mobility Pilot, a guaranteed income initiative providing unrestricted cash assistance to working families in Opportunity Neighborhoods. The pilot explores whether direct cash transfers can expand pathways to economic security for households whose incomes exceed public benefit thresholds yet remain vulnerable to poverty from unexpected financial disruption.

Since 2016, Aziza has collaborated with public and private institutions to advance structural equity through policy design, organizational assessment, and community-engaged research. Beyond academia, she co-leads The Three Door Collective, a real estate venture grounded in sociological principles, equitable architecture, and relational trust, offering homeowners navigating crisis dignified alternatives to conventional market transactions.

Across her work, Aziza pursues a central question: how do we transform institutions from sites that merely articulate equity commitments into spaces where knowledge, care, and justice are materially practiced?

Aziza is a board member of From Within, a consulting company dedicated to promoting more equitable outcomes within organizations. 

Education

• MA - Sociology, George Mason University (2024)
• BA - Political Science, Pacific Lutheran University (2019)
• BA - Sociology, Pacific Lutheran University (2019)
• AA - Green River College (2017)

Classes Taught

• HNRS 110: Research and Inquiry