Forum Speaker Series

We are thrilled to be celebrating the 28th year of the Tower Hill Forum!

The Forum was established in 1998 by the Rappolt family in honor of their children Gabrielle ’93, Sarah ’96 and Bill ’99, and in recognition of the dedication, scholarship and professionalism of the Tower Hill faculty. The Tower Hill community thanks the Rappolts for the legacy of remarkable speakers over two decades.

Each year since its inception in 1998, the Forum has brought experts and scholars to Tower Hill to speak to students about themes related to history, citizenship and international affairs. Among the speakers have been George Will, Stephen Ambrose, Gwen Ifill, Elie Wiesel, David Gergen, Joe Biden, Congressman John Lewis and Niall Ferguson.

2025-2026 Delaware: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Monday, March 30, 3:30 p.m. in du Pont Theatre

Richard Rodney Cooch is a graduate of Friends School, Williams College, where he majored in history, and the University of North Carolina School of Law. He served as a Delaware Deputy Attorney General before entering private practice with the Wilmington law firm of Cooch and Taylor, and later worked as a part-time attorney for the Delaware House of Representatives. Appointed to the Delaware Superior Court in 1992, he retired in 2019 as Resident Judge.

Judge Cooch has been deeply engaged in historical, legal, and community service throughout his career. His leadership roles have included President of the New Castle Historical Society, Chair of the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, Treasurer of the Delaware State Bar Association, and Chairman of the 1977 200th Anniversary Battle of Cooch’s Bridge Reenactment Committee.

The seventh and final generation of his family to have lived at the historic Cooch’s Bridge homestead, Judge Cooch remains closely involved with preserving its legacy. He is a member of the Friends of Cooch’s Bridge Historic Site, which works in partnership with the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs as the site is prepared for public opening in 2027. That year will also mark the 250th anniversary of Delaware’s only Revolutionary War battle, fought at Cooch’s Bridge on September 3, 1777. In 2025, the Cooch family donated a significant collection of family papers and artifacts to the Delaware Public Archives, the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, and other historical institutions.

 

As Secretary of State, Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez leads the most diverse department with responsibilities in virtually every aspect of Delaware state government. The Department focuses on promoting Delaware's economy and fostering economic development; preserving Delaware's heritage and showcasing the state's history; supporting the arts and culture of Delaware; protecting the public's health, safety, and economic welfare through regulation, licensing, and investigation; facilitating access to educational, governmental, and recreational information; and serving our nation's veterans. The Secretary also serves on the Board of Pardons, the Cash Management Policy Board, the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council and serves as Chair of the Diamond State Port Corporation.  

Prior to becoming Secretary of State, Charuni was General Manager of the New Castle County Department of Land Use. She also was an attorney in Los Angeles and co-founded The McOsker Group, where she developed political strategies for a variety of hospitality, media, outdoor advertising, healthcare, and development clients. Charuni advocated for a broad range of economic development projects for her clients and worked closely with local elected officials and staff to shape municipal ordinances and public policy issues, including home-sharing, police reform, and other measures affecting the business and workforce environments. 

Born and raised in Delaware, Charuni is a graduate of Tower Hill School and the Red Clay public schools. She holds a law degree from Emory University and BA/MA degrees in Economics from the University of Southern California.

 

Erin Sicuranza is the Director of Academic Technology Services at the University of Delaware, where she leads teams and initiatives at the intersection of teaching, learning, and innovative technology. At the forefront of artificial intelligence in higher education, Erin co-founded the University's AI for Teaching and Learning Working Group and now serves as Co-Lead of the Education Working Group for the First State AI Institute. 

By creating a culture of academic innovation, Erin enabled her team to invent two commercially viable innovations: PATHS engine (a transformative data processing engine) and UD StudyAiDE (an AI-powered app for student study tools), built in collaboration with Amazon Web Services. Her team received a prestigious AWS Champions Award in July 2025 in recognition of these innovations.

A recognized voice in academic technology strategy and innovation, Erin has served on the planning committee for the Notre Dame AI Forum for the past two years. She frequently shares her insights with the higher education community, having presented to the University of Delaware Board of Trustees, Internet2, and to peers at institutions including Cornell University, Carnegie Mellon University, Brown University, and the University of Notre Dame.

2024-2025 Leaning and Learning Across the Aisle

Monday, Oct. 7, 7 p.m. in du Pont Theatre

Todd Buchholz
Todd Buchholz “lights up economics with a wickedly sparkling wit,” says the Associated Press. He recently jousted with James Carville and Ben Stein, and Successful Meetings Magazine named him one of the “21 Top Speakers for the 21st Century.” His editorials in the Wall Street Journal and commentaries on PBS correctly forecast the 2001 slowdown in the U.S., the 2008 pop in commodity prices, and the downgrade of the U.S. debt rating. The New York Times has turned to him to decipher terrorist threats and the job market. BusinessWeek raved about his book Market Shock, which warned of the quicksand facing the stock market. Buchholz is a widely sought keynote speaker addressing a variety of topics, from the U.S. financial markets to geo political debates to economic policies that impact business strategies around the globe. With an incisive wit and entertaining style, Buchholz’s keynote presentations reveal the economic challenges and opportunities faced by our changing society and propose important strategies for success.

Tiffany D. Cross
Celebrated journalist, bestselling author, and revered political analyst Tiffany D. Cross delivers every time in motivational, insightful, and thought-provoking events. She is the current co-host of iHeart Media’s Native Land Pod, which debuted in 2024 on Apple as the number one downloaded podcast in America across all categories. Cross also hosts ACross Generations, a broadcast show and podcast with Will Packer Productions and iHeart Media, where she focuses on a variety of topics from a multigenerational perspective. Cross previously hosted The Cross Connection on MSNBC, averaging 4.6M viewers a month. She is a longtime cultural commentator, having previously served as the D.C. Bureau Chief for BET Networks, an Associate Producer for CNN, and freelancer. She is also the founder of The Beat DC, a platform that provides critical analysis of national politics, policy, business, and media, highlighting their impact on and relationship with communities of color. An influential voice in the discourse of the moment, Cross is in-demand with groups including the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., the Society of Social Work Research, TriNet, Howard University, and more.

A 2020 fellow of Harvard University Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, Cross has spent more than 20 years navigating politics, media, labor, communities of color, and the private sector. She is the bestselling author of Say It Louder: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy, which Kirkus Reviews hailed as “a compelling exploration of how Black voters have the power to shape the country's future.” Cross regularly receives stellar feedback for her events, such as: ”Tiffany was superb. A joy to work with, engaging and fully invested in making the event a stand-out” (Robert Toigo Foundation Annual Gala) and ”The event was absolutely wonderful and well received! Tiffany Cross was outstanding and prolific.” (Society for Social Work Research)

2023-2024: Beyond Tower Hill: Alumni Making a Global Impact

Tom Villalón ’02

Tom Villalón is the co-founder of Rescue Afghan Women Now (RAWN), a group that rescues extremely high-risk Afghan women and children from Taliban capture/execution. Tom’s team liaises with individuals from the United States special forces, veteran, and intelligence communities, and they have coordinated operations that have successfully rescued more than 23 high-risk individuals to date (including individuals personally targeted by Taliban intelligence). His group is keeping alive 100+ high risk Afghan female soldiers and their dependents, all of whom are on Taliban kill lists, and who are in deep hiding throughout the country.tower hill forum Tom Villalón

Tom began his career as an international arbitration lawyer at Covington & Burling LLP in New York City, and Bae, Kim & Lee in Seoul, South Korea. While he was working in New York in early 2021, a colleague asked him to represent an Afghan combat interpreter who was seeking a special visa. For several months, the task involved routine paperwork; however, as the U.S. forces pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2021, everything changed. At once, thousands of Afghan citizens who had worked with the U.S. were unable to escape. While his law firm and others donated their time to help some on a pro bono basis, Tom wanted to do more. He left his position at the firm to establish RAWN and continue his work with the group on a full time basis.

Tom came to Tower Hill in second grade, after spending several years in Chile, where his father was raised. He went on to receive his B.A. with High Honors from Dartmouth College in 2006, and J.D. cum laude from the University of Hawaii (2013) where he was also one of two U.S. scholars awarded the Graduate Degree Fellowship from the East-West Center (2013). He speaks Chinese, Spanish, Korean and English, and is conversational in Arabic, German and Farsi. Tom's brothers, Nick Villalón ’00 and Dan Villalón ’99 also graduated from Tower Hill.

Watch the recording of Tom's speech below:

Nasir Wilson ’15

tower hill forum leadership alumniNasir Wilson, THS C/O 2015, graduated from the University of Delaware in 2019 where he received his B.A. in Political Science and Criminal Justice.  In May 2021, he graduated from the American University School of International Service (SIS) where he received his M.A. in United States Foreign Policy and National Security (USFP).

He is a 2019 Pickering Fellow and former Pathways Intern.  When he was selected as a Pickering Fellow, he was only the second person in UD’s history to receive the award.  He has worked at the United States Department of State for the last 5 years in various bureaus such as the Bureau of Administration (A), the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN), the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), and most recently, the Secretary's Executive Secretariat Staff (S/ES-S).

In S/ES-S, he served as the Department's Congressional Reports Coordinator where he helped the Department significantly reduce its overdue reports, as administration priorities for Secretaries Pompeo and Blinken.  He is the recipient of various State Department awards such as the Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards as well as the Franklin Award.

Currently, Nasir is a management-coned Foreign Service Officer (FSO), aka diplomat, posted to U.S. Embassy Antananarivo, Madagascar where he covers both Madagascar and the Union of the Comoros.  He serves as the Human Resources Officer and a Consular Officer, with diplomatic titles 3rd Secretary and Vice Consul.  He is multilingual in English, Spanish, and French.

Watch the recording of Nasir's speech below:

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