Students for Africa evolved out of the interest of students at the University of Denver's Graduate School of International Studies. In the fall of 2002, GSIS hosted the first annual Julius Nyerere Memorial Conference on "Sustainable Development in Africa and the New African Initiative" and student turnout and the abundance of student interest in Contemporary African Studies was apparent. Capitalizing on the interest from the students, a handful of us got together to discuss formalizing a discussion group that worked on promoting academic work concerning Africa.

The obvious result is Students for Africa. Since the inception of Students for Africa, the group has met periodically to discuss readings, view movies, share slides of from internships and travels, conduct cultural nights in the Gilbert Cyber Cafe, conduct networking events with Africa Today Associates and local professionals working in the field and most importantly pushed to create a graduate level course that addressed many of the issues facing contemporary Africa.

In addition, the graduate level course is being replicated at the undergraduate level in conjunction with the Graduate School of International Studies solidifying its commitment to provide its students with courses on Africa. It is an exciting time to get involved with Students for Africa and share your interests and experiences with your peers. The site is designed to provide "you the student" with a plethora of academic resources on Africa and place to publish and share your academic work and experiences with the world.