The Honorable Cynthia A. Baldwin was the first African-American woman elected to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas and only the third African-American and the second African-American woman to serve on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in its over three- hundred -year history. She retired from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2008. After her retirement from the Court, she became a partner with Duane Morris and also served as the first Vice President and General Counsel for the Pennsylvania State University. While a judge in commission, Justice Baldwin served a summer as a Fulbright Scholarship Lecturer on the Law Faculty of the University of Zimbabwe in Harare, Zimbabwe.  She was also a Guest Lecturer at the Wolfensohn Center for Development of the Brookings Institution where in 2009, she authored a white paper entitled “Combating Judicial Corruption in Uganda.” Dedicated to both her career and her community, she showed her commitment by serving on not-for-profit and for- profit boards. She chaired the alumni associations of both of the institutions from which she received her higher education. In 1989, she became the first woman of color elected president of the Penn State Alumni Association, the largest dues-paying alumni association in the world. She also served as President of Duquesne University’s Law Alumni Association from 1996-1997. Baldwin was formerly a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association, the Homer S. Brown Law Association’s Executive Board, the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Commission on Justice Initiatives and a gubernatorial appointee to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

In 2017, Baldwin was elected for the second time to the Fulbright Association Board in Washington, D.C., and elected as Chair for 2022 and 2023. Baldwin’s commitment and leadership qualities have led to her also being elected to chair the boards of the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities (Chair, 2009-2010), the Pennsylvania State University (Chair, 2004-2007), and the Foundation of HOPE (2024), as well as serving on the boards of Duquesne University, Pittsburgh Urban League, United Way, The Rivers Club, Vibrant Pittsburgh, Penn State Greater Allegheny, Mon Valley Education Consortium, and Noah’s Ark Community Center, the latter three in the city of her birth, McKeesport, Pennsylvania. She is an emerita trustee of both of the university boards. She has chaired the Governance and Nominating Committees of several of the boards on which she served. In 2008, she was the first woman and the first person of color elected to the board of Kopper’s Inc where she served with distinction until retiring in 2019. She was an early member of the National Association of Corporate Directors Three Rivers Chapter. Justice Baldwin was the keynote speaker for the 2020 Women on Boards National Conversation in Pittsburgh in November, 2016. A Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania, she continues to work to make the Commonwealth better by mentoring many younger people asking only that they do the same in return. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum and received their Women Who Make a Difference Award in Miami, Florida in 2009. A member of the International Association of Women Judges, she just returned from their biennial conference in Capetown, South Africa. She is a faithful member of the Bethlehem Baptist Church in her hometown of McKeesport, PA. Among her many awards are the New Pittsburgh Courier’s Women of Excellence Legacy Award, ATHENA Award; the Heinz History Center History Maker Award; Carlow College’s Woman of Spirit; The Century Club of Distinguished Duquesne University Alumni; and Distinguished Alumna of The Pennsylvania State University; She is also the recipient of several honorary doctorates from prestigious universities.

In recognition of outstanding contributions to her profession and the Marquis Who’s Who community, in 2017, Justice Baldwin was featured on Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achievers website.