DECATUR—Kaitlyn Posa is the 2017 Emory University undergraduate recipient of the Marion Luther Brittain Award, the university’s highest student honor.

The Brittain Award is presented each year to two graduating students, one graduate and one undergraduate, under provisions of a gift by the late Dr. M. L. Brittain, former president of the Georgia Institute of Technology and an alumnus of Emory.

Posa received the award for her work on human rights and religious freedom. She is the president of the Emory Catholic Student Union and a member of the board of directors of the Aquinas Center of Theology at Emory. She has also served as editor-in-chief for the international affairs journal, the Emory Globe.

Posa helped organize a religious persecution panel presentation and the development of a Consistent Ethic of Life lecture. She graduated with a double major in English and psychology. Posa, from Greenville, South Carolina, will attend Duke Law School next year.

She strove to “fearlessly unite people across difficult ecumenical and interfaith boundaries” and shine a light on the importance of religious freedom, said Phillip Thompson, executive director of the Aquinas Center of Theology at Emory, who helped in nominating her for the award.

The Brittain Award, which comes with $2,500, was presented at the university’s central Commencement ceremony.