The United States National Student Association, a confederation of American college and university student governments, was founded in 1947 at a conference at the University of Wisconsin. It established its first headquarters in Madison, not far from the U. of Wisconsin campus. NSA was led by officers elected at its annual National Student Congress. From the early 1950s until 1967, its international program and some of its domestic activities were underwritten by clandestine support from the Central Intelligence Agency. Beginning in the late 1950s, NSA conducted an annual Southern Student Human Relations Seminar (SSHRS), educating Southern student leaders on issues relating to race and civil rights. In late 1959 the SSHRS leadership opened a year-round office in Atlanta.