Alyssa Bivins holds a PhD in History from The George Washington University. Her research specializes in education history in the Middle East, with a focus on Palestinian East Jerusalem and education under settler colonialism. Her dissertation research was supported by the Institute for Middle East Studies at GWU, a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, and a Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship. Her dissertation writing was funded by the National Academy of Education Spencer Dissertation Fellowship. She received her BA in History and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago.

She is currently the Graduate Professional Development and Career Program Coordinator at George Mason University and volunteers on the Board of Directors of the Arlington Sister Cities Association.