Each year, a committee of faculty, staff, students, and community partners convene to select an intellectually stimulating, interdisciplinary book by a living author that appeals to a wide range of readers and can be incorporated into the UCSB curriculum. Each committee member suggests two titles to the longlist, which is narrowed down by vote to the "shortlist". The final book is chosen by vote from these five titles. Below is the list of 2021-2022 committee members.
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Rebecca Baker | Graduate Student, English |
| Lupita Barragan | UCSB Alumni |
| Ines D. Casillas | Faculty, Chicana and Chicano Studies |
| Brian Donnelly | Faculty, English |
| Jackson Eddy | UCSB Undergraduate Student |
| Bergen Forshay | UCSB Undergraduate Student |
| Allison Gray | Director, Goleta Valley Public Library |
| Michelle Grue | Faculty, College of Creative Studies and Writing Program |
| Emily Jacobs | Faculty, Psychological & Brain Sciences |
| Aaron Jones | Director, Educational Opportunity Program |
| Bruce Kendall | Faculty, Bren School |
| Dylan Martinez | UCSB Undergraduate Student |
| Patrick McCray | Faculty, History |
| Maria Napoli | Community College Programs Manager, Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships |
| Erin Nerstad | Associate Director, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center |
| Sharleen O'Brien | Director, UCSB Health and Wellness |
| Caitlin O'Hara | Senior Publicist, UCSB Arts & Lectures |
| Sameer Pandya | Faculty, Asian-American Studies |
| Behrooz Parhami | Faculty, Electrical and Computer Engineering |
| Kathy Patterson | Faculty, Writing Program |
| David Pellow | Faculty, Environmental Studies |
| Alex Regan | UCSB Librarian |