Dr. Simone Puff, who joined the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies from Austria this fall, recently won the prestigious teaching award “E-Learning Champion  – ELCH” for her innovative work with students by blogging about social justice issues and anti-racist work in Austria and the United States. Her class “From Selma to Ferguson: The Cultural Politics of Protest”, which she taught in the American Studies Department at the University of Graz in Austria last spring, received this international recognition by a jury of experts for its innovative use of social media (blogs, Twitter) and e-learning (Moodle) as well as for a community outreach project with Austrian high schools.The E-Learning Champion is funded by the Vice Rectorate for Studies and Teaching at the University of Graz in Austria and is organized by the university’s Academy of New Media and Knowledge Transfer. It honors projects and initiatives with exemplary character in the field of new media.