Mortar Board was the first national organization honoring senior college women. The evolution of Mortar Board mirrors an attempt to keep pace with an ever-changing society.

It was on the campus of the University of Chicago in the fall of 1915 when a member of Mortar Board from The Ohio State University met a member of Pi Sigma Chi from Swarthmore College. Both women wore similar pins in the shape of a mortarboard. Through discussion they realized each represented an honor society for women with similar election methods, operating procedures, ideals, and traditions. The main difference in the honor societies was their names.

The founding meeting for the organization of the national honor society took place at Syracuse University on February 15, 1918. Representatives were from Cornell University, The University of Michigan, The Ohio State University, Swarthmore College as well as Syracuse University, which did not choose to join the national organization when it became Mortar Board following the founding meeting.

The founding meeting adopted the pin of The Ohio State University, a small black mortarboard. A motto was adopted, taken from the Greek words meaning service, scholarship, and leadership, to be represented by three Greek letters, Pi Sigma Alpha, the letters which appear on the pin. The constitution was adopted from a tentative plan outlined by Swarthmore. Officially the society remained nameless until the second convention at The University of Michigan, but correspondence with prospective chapters following the February 1918 meeting referred to the new organization as Mortar Board, the name and spelling of the Ohio State honor society.

The University of Iowa Staff and Circle chapter of Mortar Board has cultivated its own traditions. Local members of Mortar Board select the society's officers each year, and they work with the Honors Advising Director on several projects. Local traditions include collaboration with Omicron Delta Kappa on three awards important on and beyond the Iowa campus. The Huit Award applauds a tenured faculty member for sustained excellence in teaching. The Murray Award recognizes outstanding teaching by a tenure-track faculty member who has not yet received tenure. The Mom and Dad of the Year Awards celebrate extraordinary contributions by a female parent of one University of Iowa student and the male parent of another.