A Life-changing Experience

Memorial Day week, 1994, I flew to Harare, Zimbabwe to begin my three-month experience as a Fulbright Scholar teaching on the Law Faculty of the University of Zimbabwe. I got to know the law students and some of their families. I got to work with the Zimbabwean Supreme Court on land redistribution and heredity issues and with nongovernmental agencies on issues important to the women of the country and I got to travel the whole of Zimbabwe. It was a life-changing experience.

Hon. Cynthia Ackron Baldwin

(ret.PA Supreme Court) Chair, Fulbright Association Board of Directors

am told that I was the first sitting judge to complete a Fulbright. That is not hard to believe since we judges do not get sabbaticals. However, in 2001, the Fulbright Program initiated a new program under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). On the website, it is described as “a unique opportunity for U.S. academics and established professionals to engage in two-to-six-week, projectbased exchanges at host institutions across the globe.” And it is indeed unique because now, both sitting and retired members of the judiciary have the opportunity within the time frame of a summer vacation to share their expertise in other countries while learning about those countries, their people and their culture.

Fulbrighters are often described as citizen diplomats because that’s exactly who we are. Online Oxford Languages defines a diplomat as a person who