On February 25, 1847, the First General Assembly of the State of Iowa established the State University of Iowa at Iowa City. The law provided for a 15-member Board of Trustees. With little initial financial support, the Board's early business was confined to land selection for the new institution. By 1855, the first year of classes, however, the Board became fully engaged in the business of managing a small but growing public university. In 1870 the Board of Trustees was reorganized as the Board of Regents.

In 1909, the Iowa State Board of Education was organized to administer the state's three public institutions of higher learning: The State University of Iowa at Iowa City (in 1964 its name was shortened to The University of Iowa for common use); Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts at Ames (renamed Iowa State University of Science and Technology in 1959); and the Iowa State Teachers College at Cedar Falls (renamed the State College of Iowa in 1961 and the University of Northern Iowa in 1967). The state board succeeded the functions of these individual institutions' governing bodies in 1909.

The state Board of Education was renamed the Iowa State Board of Regents in 1954.