WKU News

“I was a double major in international affairs and studio art—with a concentration in painting and ceramics—and I had a minor in political science,” said Hailey Stapleton, a recent WKU alumna (WKU ’25) from Prospect, Kentucky. “It sounds like a lot, but it actually made sense in my head.”

For Hailey, college wasn’t just about checking boxes—it was about finding the intersection between what mattered to her and what drove her curiosity. “I had a really formative experience in high school with my AP Human Geography teacher,” she said. “She really pushed me into understanding how culture and government and people all interact. And I’ve grown up with art my whole life. It’s how I process memory, people, experiences—everything.”

Initially, she hadn’t planned to take on so many disciplines. But when she arrived at WKU and was told she had too many credits to finish a full four years, she found herself at a crossroads. “I was a COVID student—I didn’t want to graduate early. I wanted all four years,” she explained. “So I said, ‘You know what? I’ll just add art, because I’ve always loved it, and I want to get better at it.’”

Through the Mahurin Honors College, Hailey bridged her two worlds—global politics and creative expression—on her own terms. “I augmented a ton of my international affairs classes. My professors let me do all my projects on art stuff—like international law, art corruption rings, and mafia involvement in the black market,” she said. “It’s super fascinating. I’ve seen enough true crime documentaries to know it’s a whole world of its own.”

That intersection—art and justice—eventually led her to the concept of art repatriation: the legal and ethical process of returning stolen artworks to their rightful owners or countries. “That term changed everything for me. I was like, ‘Oh, this is a real career path. This is something I could actually do,’” she said.

As graduation approached, she was weighing two potential routes: pursuing museum studies to work in curatorial and archival settings, or taking the international law track to work across countries and institutions on repatriation cases. “One of my professors was really adamant that I go the law route. And I think I agree with him,” she said. “There’s something about being able to help mediate between governments and museums, and really do the work that makes the difference.”

Her semester abroad in Florence, Italy, sealed the deal. “It was the best thing I’ve ever done. I still dream about it,” she said. “I took international law from a woman who trained to be a diplomat for Italy. She was Sicilian, and one day she came into class so excited because they had just caught one of the biggest mafia leaders in the world. He’d never left his hometown, and the whole town had protected him because he gave them jobs.”

Alongside law, she took ceramics, food and wine, and museum studies—visiting different museums every week. “I’d never seen that many paintings in my life. And swords. And full suits of armor. It was kind of surreal.”

The trip also took her to London, Greece, Malta, Switzerland, and Rome, where she visited relatives, saw the coronation of King Charles (“The crown didn’t fit—they had to wiggle it on!”), and celebrated Easter in Florence. “They set off cannons across the city and burn a sculpture in the square. We stayed for 20 minutes and then were like, ‘Yup, we’re good,’” she laughed.

Back on campus, she found a strong creative home in the Fine Arts Center. “The ceramics studio was the most welcoming atmosphere I was a part of on this campus,” she said. “You could walk in and say anything, and people would just say, ‘Cool. I’m listening.’ I never met kinder people.”

She also served on the Judicial Council in the Student Government Association. “A friend reached out to me and said, ‘I think you’d like this,’” she said. “I interviewed, and I wish I had known about it earlier. It was one of the best things I did.”

For students just beginning their journey, including her younger brother who’s now in high school, Hailey offered a reflection rooted in growth. “I didn’t think I could go abroad. I mean, I knew I wanted to—but I didn’t know if I could do it for that long, that far away,” she said. “But I did. And now I have a much better grasp of who I am.”

“You come into college not really knowing who you are,” she said. “But if you let yourself grow, by the time you leave, you’ve got a way better sense of yourself.”

Whether through brushstrokes or borderlines, galleries or governments, Hailey Stapleton is shaping a future that’s thoughtful, global, and grounded in her own artistic way of seeing the world.