One Wish: Felecia Turner Epps ’80

Felecia Turner Epps ’80 is a Cornell Trustee who signed with the U.S. Marine Corps as a Cornell student. After completing Creighton University School of Law, The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, and Naval Justice School, Epps served as a judge advocate, worked for Georgia Legal Services, and as a law professor and dean. She is dean of the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law.

I would wish for everyone to live by a teaching that is central to many religious traditions—to love your neighbor as you love yourself. That would mean we show kindness to everyone—no matter who they are or what they believe. We would wish for the families of others the same things we wish for our own family. Everyone would be treated equally and have a seat at the table to feast on all the good that this world has to offer.

We are facing so many challenges today; poverty, random violence, police shootings, wars, hostility toward those perceived to be “the other,” and just generally a lack of concern for others. The first step in addressing these problems is to acknowledge that we are all made in the image of God. No one is lesser than anyone else. Perhaps in the end this leads to peace on earth.

Read all 11 Wishes for 2025 from Cornell visionaries.