Student Experience
Isabel White brings student perspective to global academic integrity conversation
UC Santa Cruz student and Academic Integrity Office senior peer educator Isabel White presented to an international audience on “Co-owning Integrity Work with Students in the Age of AI,” reflecting the office’s focus on student voice, education, and peer support.
Isabel White, a third-year politics and legal studies student, serves as a senior peer educator with UC Santa Cruz’s Academic Integrity Office in the Division of Undergraduate Education.
UC Santa Cruz student Isabel White has spent the past year helping fellow students think through academic integrity questions, from responsible use of artificial intelligence to what it means to learn from a mistake.
This summer, she brought that experience to an international audience through the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI).
White, a rising third-year student studying politics and legal studies, joined UC Santa Cruz Academic Integrity Office Education Specialist Jessa Kirk, who also serves on several ICAI committees, and Australian academic integrity researcher Shaun Lehmann for a July webinar hosted by the Center. Their session, “Co-owning Integrity Work with Students in the Age of AI,” explored how colleges and universities can involve students more directly in the academic integrity education process.
White was the only student presenter in the Center’s summer webinar series, which featured academic integrity experts from around the world.
White’s participation reflects the approach to academic integrity the Division of Undergraduate Education’s Academic Integrity Office has been building on campus, with students helping other students understand academic integrity through education and peer support.
White was one of the first three peer educators hired by the Academic Integrity Office in August 2025 and has since been promoted to senior peer educator. In that role, she mentors students one-on-one, leads and supports other peer educators, develops student resources, and helps introduce students across campus to the office and its work. She also helped facilitate the office’s first five-week Integrity Seminar and will return to the role during the 2026–27 academic year.
“Every face-to-face interaction I have, every kind stranger I talk to, reminds me that our world still runs on human connection.”
Isabel White
The peer educator program is part of the Academic Integrity Office’s focus on education and prevention, giving students opportunities to learn from and connect with peers who understand the unique pressures of life as a UCSC undergraduate.
“Every face-to-face interaction I have, every kind stranger I talk to, reminds me that our world still runs on human connection,” White wrote for the International Center for Academic Integrity ahead of the webinar.
That emphasis on human connection also shapes how she approaches generative AI, helping students think about using the technology ethically and responsibly rather than discouraging its use altogether.
“We are not the anti-AI office,” White said. “My professional goal is for students to use AI ethically and responsibly, not to discourage them from using it at all. That never works well.”
White credits the office’s peer educator model with helping bridge the gap between students and educators. It gives students a voice in conversations about academic integrity and the changing role of AI. She has seen educators increasingly turn to students with questions along the lines of: “What do YOU think we should do?”