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[ingirumimus]

I keep reading about people who teach as adjuncts at several colleges, but don't understand how they manage always to get courses at College B whose times not only don't conflict with their scheduled courses at College A, but also allow them time for a commute.  I would like to apply to teach at another college; what is the proper way to address the matter in a letter of application?  Or should I not raise the subject at all, but wait until I get an offer?

[cgfunmathguy]

I keep reading about people who teach as adjuncts at several colleges, but don't understand how they manage always to get courses at College B whose times not only don't conflict with their scheduled courses at College A, but also allow them time for a commute.  I would like to apply to teach at another college; what is the proper way to address the matter in a letter of application?  Or should I not raise the subject at all, but wait until I get an offer?

When I served as a department chair, my adjuncts used to tell me when they were available to teach. Several taught for me two days a week and for another school two other days (nights, actually) while holding a day job. Tell your chair when you are available to work. If s/he wants you to teach, s/he will make sure the class is within that timeframe.

[kedves]

Or should I not raise the subject at all, but wait until I get an offer?

That's what I would do.  First, get hired; then, work out the details of the schedule.  It's easiest if the courses are on different days, but depending on the distance, not always necessary.

[zuzu_]

Usually, adjuncts will work at one place M/W/F and another place T/R. Sometimes you can squeeze in a third place somewhere in there, perhaps at night.

[seniorscholar]

The comp directors in a city with a number of colleges and universities, in my experience, tend to "trade" adjuncts over the phone: "I've scheduled Old Faithful for a class on Tues/Thurs at 11, but s/he needs to get to the course you've scheduled by noon. How can we work this out?"

This works only with a course with enough sections at each school, and enough schools in the area (and,  if possible, a decent public transportation system) so that comp schedules are more or less a Rubic's Cube problem for the people staffing them in any case.

[clean]

When I served as a department chair, my adjuncts used to tell me when they were available to teach

Here, the adjuncts have priority in scheduling over full time faculty.  Ive had my class schedule changed several times to accommodate our adjuncts. 

[cgfunmathguy]

When I served as a department chair, my adjuncts used to tell me when they were available to teach

Here, the adjuncts have priority in scheduling over full time faculty.  Ive had my class schedule changed several times to accommodate our adjuncts. 

The problem is that you need adjuncts to teach some sections, and forcing them to conform to your expectations of scheduling is not conducive to keeping them. My adjuncts usually taught at local high schools during the day, and the ones who didn't held other full-time jobs. If I wanted them to teach for me PART-TIME, I had to be willing to work around their FULL-TIME jobs. When full-time faculty complained about this particular dynamic, I asked for volunteers for overloads so that I didn't need adjuncts. Care to guess how many I got? Three out of 11, and they were already scheduled for overloads. The complaints ended after that.

[clean]

When I served as a department chair, my adjuncts used to tell me when they were available to teach

Here, the adjuncts have priority in scheduling over full time faculty.  Ive had my class schedule changed several times to accommodate our adjuncts. 

The problem is that you need adjuncts to teach some sections, and forcing them to conform to your expectations of scheduling is not conducive to keeping them. My adjuncts usually taught at local high schools during the day, and the ones who didn't held other full-time jobs. If I wanted them to teach for me PART-TIME, I had to be willing to work around their FULL-TIME jobs. When full-time faculty complained about this particular dynamic, I asked for volunteers for overloads so that I didn't need adjuncts. Care to guess how many I got? Three out of 11, and they were already scheduled for overloads. The complaints ended after that.
 
 
 

I understand the dynamic.   My only objection was that one in particular kept changing the day that they wanted to teach.  It caused conflict with our graduate program scheduling which is not particularly flexable WRT schedule changes.  It was starting to cause ME to have to teach 7-930 three times a week!.  I didnt really sign up to work the Night shift to accommodate someone else's full time job. 

Again, I understand the dynamic.  Fortunately, as a full time faculty member, I have a bit of power in other areas.  The class in question is now an elective (why they ever had a required class that could only be taught by an adjunct is beyond me, but that was done when we had only 1/2 the department we have now.).  Further, now that it is an elective, it need not be taught at all. 

[john_proctor]

Or should I not raise the subject at all, but wait until I get an offer?

That's what I would do.  First, get hired; then, work out the details of the schedule.  It's easiest if the courses are on different days, but depending on the distance, not always necessary.

eeyup.  x2.