On March 21, 1969, the Utah State Legislature passed the Utah Higher Education Act of 1969, establishing the Utah System of Higher Education and its governing body, the State Board of Higher Education, to govern Utah's (at the time) nine institutions of higher learning, as well as administer the federal Higher Education Act of 1965.

[2][3] In 1977, an amendment was passed to rename the board to the Utah State Board of Regents, as well as increase its membership to sixteen, with provisions for appointing of a student member.

Subsequently, a 1981 amendment further increased this number to seventeen, with the seventeenth member being the Lieutenant Governor of Utah.

[5] Today, the board consists of 10 Utah citizens, all of whom are appointed by the Governor of Utah, one of whom is a Student Board member.

Each board member is appointed to six-year staggered terms, with the exception of student board members, who are appointed to one-year terms.