Give A Rouse

Architect Michael Timchula '69 floated 320 brightly colored, six-foot-wide balloons over six blocks in Shenzhem, China (across the bay from Hong Kong), to give residents an idea of what the dimensions of the roof for a proposed city center would look like. The unusual roof, designed to echo surrounding hillsides and recall traditional Chinese roofs, follows a curve that rises to more than 155 feet and dips down to 33 feet. Timchula's firm, John MA. Lee/Michael Timchula Architects of New York, won the contract for designing the 450.000-square-foot center that will hold a planetarium, science exhibits, city offices, and gathering spaces.

• Leon Mann '57, recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Albert Einstein School of Medicine

• Caleb Loring '66, named Alan of the Year by the Glovsky Lodge of B'nai B'rith in Beverly, Mass.

• Peter Shortridge '66, named one of five Outstanding Educators in 1997 at the University of Kansas by Mortar Board, a national senior honor society

• Tom Couser '68, author of Recovering Bodies: Illness, Disability, and Life Writing (University of Wisconsin Press)

• Paul Gross '73, awarded the 1998 Spectrum Award from the American Gem Association for his design of a red beryl ring

• Louise Erdrich '76, author of The Antelope Wife (Harper Flamingo)

• Katharine Phillips '77, DMS '87, author of The Broken Mirror: Understanding andTreating Body Dysmorphic Disorder (Oxford University Press)

• Dean Esserman '79, appointed chief of police of Stamford, Conn.

• Jeff Tepper '81 selected Regents' Distinguished Professor for Teaching and Learning at Valdosta State University in Georgia

• S. Tien Wong '84. whose firm, Unitel Corp., which he co-founded, has been ranked 51st in the 1997 Inc. magazine's 500 list, a ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the country

• Al Dekin '87, named to the U.S., National Rugby Team for the fifth time (his thirdas captain)

Timchula is having a ball with a city center design in China.