Oct. 6 marks the beginning of National Fire Prevention Week. This year's theme is "Lets Hear It for Fire Safety! Test Your Detectors."

To help campus prepare for a safe fall, Sparky the Fire Dog has been visiting campus childcare centers this week with stickers and fire safety tips. Here are a few home fire safety tips for fall.

Spring forward, fall back and check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. When you change your clocks, also change the battery in your detectors. Developing this habit is a good way to remember a simple task that can save your life.

Space heaters need space, too. As the weather gets cooler, space heaters come out of their summer hiding places. Remember to leave at least 3 feet of space around your heater. Unplug it when not in use. (In accordance with the State Fire Marshal's office, space heaters are not allowed on campus. If you have special needs, contact the Fire Prevention Division of the Office of Environment, Health and Safety.

Give your fireplace a fall cleaning. Call your local chimney sweep and have your spark arrester checked and your chimney inspected for soot build-up.

Fire season isn't over. This month marks the fifth anniversary of the tragic Oakland hills fire. It's not too late to make sure your roof is clear of leaves or pine needles and that there is a clear space of at least 30 feet between your house and the nearest tree.

Have a safe fall and contact the Office of Environment, Health and Safety's Fire Prevention Division at 642-5978 if you have questions.

Women's Welfare in Asia

The struggles of women to hold onto land and housing in Asia as countries there make the transition to a capitalist economy will be the subject of a day-long international conference in the Faculty Club Friday, Oct. 11.

Five speakers from China, Laos and Vietnam will join 20 Americans doing research on women's economic welfare in Asia for the public conference from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Seaborg Room.

Titled "Women, the Family and Economic Transformation: Rights to Land and Housing," the conference is headed by Irene Tinker, professor of city and regional planning, and sponsored by the Pacific Rim Program.

Among other topics, participants will discuss squatter housing, the impact of divorce on women's housing and the distribution of farm and urban land between men and women as communist work units weaken their control over property in these Asian countries.

Graduate Recruiting Fairs Scheduled

Four upcoming graduate school recruiting events will give students, the public and representatives of some 300 graduate and professional programs from the United States and abroad an opportunity to meet informally for an exchange of information.

The fairs, sponsored by Career and Graduate School Services, will be held in Pauley Ballroom of Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union.

Each visiting program will have a table for displaying written information and answering questions.

Dates and times for the recruiting events are as follows:

Graduate School Information Day, Tuesday, Oct. 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Graduate Programs of many types attend. These include schools of arts and sciences, business, law, medicine, engineering, public policy, psychology, education, social work, planning and more.

Law Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Approximately 95 schools from around the country are expected.

International Affairs Career Information Day, Thursday, Nov. 14 from noon to 4 p.m. Schools of international affairs and business as well as public and private sector employers participate.

Panel discussions on careers in the international field and on attending a graduate school are held in conjunction with the fair.

MBA/International Business Day, Thursday, Nov. 21 from noon to 4 p.m. Schools of business and international affairs from the United States and abroad attend.

All four fairs are free and open to the public. For information call 642-5706.

Chancellor's Staff Advisory Lunch Oct. 18

The Chancellor's Staff Advisory Committee will hold an open noon discussion Friday, Oct. 18, on "Development, Competency and Training: UC Berkeley as an Employer Now and at the Turn of the Century."

The Vice Chancellor Carol Christ, Vice Chancellor Horace Mitchell and Human Resources Director Alice Gregory will be on hand to discuss elements of campus organizational readiness as well as listen to and respond to questions from staff.

The entire campus community is welcome. Bring your bag lunch and join in the discussion at the Alumni House.

Prizewinning Play At Zellerbach Playhouse

Timberlake Wertenbaker's "Our Country's Good," a play written in a sparse, witty and powerful sequence of 22 short scenes, opens Oct. 17 at Zellberbach Playhouse.

Presented by the Center for Theater Arts, the play features a group of convicts who, through performing, find humanity and respect from others. A winner of the 1988 Laurence Olivier Play of the Year Award, it reveals conflicts, discoveries and freedoms provided by the exiles' performance of Farquar's "The Recruiting Officer."

This staging of history brims with humanistic vitality and humor, with 14 actors cast in 23 double and cross-gender roles. Doctoral candidate Maya Roth directs.

Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays, Oct. 17-19 and 24-26 at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees, Oct. 20 and 27 at 2 p.m.

For group rates and ticket information call the Cal Performances box office at 642-9988.

Methodists to Rededicate Wesley Building

The campus ministry of the United Methodist Church will rededicate its Wesley Foundation building at Bancroft and Dana in a ceremony and open house Sunday, Oct. 20. Bishop Talbert, bishop of the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church, will officiate.

While the United Methodist Church has had a continuous ministry on campus since 1923, for the past 25 years it has carried out this work through a cooperative venture with a group of denominations who pooled their resources to hire a single chaplain. Several years ago the church hired Rev. Odette Lockwood-Stewart for its outreach on campus. Now it plans to make the Wesley Foundation building, newly remodeled after serving for many years as home for a daycare center, its base of operations.

Food will be provided by local churches and music by groups including Voices for Change, a contingent of Haitian drummers and the Jones Memorial United Methodist Church Young Adult Choir.

The event is scheduled for 2 to 6 p.m., with the rededication at 3 p.m., at 2398 Bancroft Way. For information call 549-1244.

Hofmann, Abstract Expressionism at UAM

"Hans Hofmann and the New York School," running through Nov. 24 at the University Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, takes a fresh look at the New York School -- the style of freehand, large-scale abstraction associated with artists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning -- through the lens of the late work of artist and teacher Hans Hofmann (1880-1966).

An intriguing, small-scale show of about 25 paintings, the exhibition juxtaposes some of Hofmann's works with those by a dozen younger contemporaries.

The show is "meant to have a work-in-progress feeling," says guest curator Timothy J. Clark, the art historian and professor. "It may prove the key to a renewed understanding of the New York School in general."

Paintings in the exhibition are drawn partially from the UAM/PFA's strong holdings in American art of the 1950s and 1960s (including signature works by Mark Rothko, de Kooning and Clyfford Still) and the museum's important Hans Hofmann collection, the largest in the world.

Campus Lost and Found Loot Offered for Auction and Sale Oct. 18, 19

Looking for an affordable camera, typewriter or oak desk?

Lost, abandoned and surplus items in good condition will be up for grabs at the campus Lost and Found Surplus Auction Saturday, Oct. 19.

Items to be auctioned also include jewelry such as watches, rings, necklaces, athletic goods, calculators, computers and office furniture.

About 100 bicycles will be for sale, along with helmets and other accessories.

A preview Friday, Oct. 18, is a chance to view the loot prior to the bidding. The preview will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the same hours as a "garage sale" at which a variety of items -- clothing, filing cabinets, hat racks, computer parts and more -- will be sold at fixed prices.

Many articles will be auctioned on a lot basis, with minimum bids pre-established in some cases.

The auction, preview and garage sale will be held at the Marchant Building, 100 Folger St., Berkeley. Auction hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with bike sales beginning shortly after noon. For information call 642-5374 or 642-1186.