July 1975:  Governor Robert Ray appoints Colleen Shearer as director; creating the Governor's Task Force for Indochinese Resettlement.

November 1975:  Three planeloads of Tai Dam refugees arrive in Des Moines

September 1977:  The task force is reorganized and renamed the Iowa Refugee Service Center

April 1979:  A plane from Malaysia delivers 196 Vietnamese "boat people" to Des Moines.  Later that year, Cambodian refugees come to Iowa.

June 1980:  The Lao National Musical Arts and Dance Troupe, 24 families, escape from Laos and settle in Iowa.

January 1981:  Arrivals peak as the U.S. government seeks to relieve the pressure of the influx of refugees to first-asylum countries.

January 1986:  The Iowa Refugee Service Center is placed under the direction of the Iowa Department of Human Services.  It is renamed the Bureau of Refugee Programs.

February 1987:  Several dozen Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Romanian refugee families resettle in Iowa.

August 1988:  Des Moines, Sioux City and Davenport are designated as "cluster sites" for refugee resettlement.

March 1989:  The organization is renamed the Bureau of Refugee Services.  Wayne Johnson is appointed Bureau Chief.

December 1991:  The Bureau of Refugee Services received the top score in the nation for its refugee employment services.

October 1992:  The Bureau received the highest national ranking for accomplishments in refugee employment, minimizing out-migration, affiliate monitoring, headquarters' interview reporting and assurances.

February 1993:  The first Bosnian refugee families arrive.

September 1993:  The first Burmese dissident arrives, settling in Sioux City.

June 1995:  Iowa becomes the largest site for Sudanese refugees

August 1998 :  The first Liberian refugees are resettled by the Bureau.

May 1999:  The first Kosovar refugees are resettled in the state.

April 2003 :  The Bureau opens the Assessment, Training and Placement Center

September 2005:  The Bureau closes that last of its filed offices.  The only remaining office is in Des Moines

June 2008:  The first Bhutanese refugees are resettled by the Bureau.