A GUIDE TO POWER MAPPING FOR ACADEMIC WORKERS
The Editors
27 February 2026
What is power mapping, and why is it useful?
In a rapidly evolving situation, the best way to assess the specific challenges and leverage that workers have is to go out to our departments or labs to figure out who is currently working, what their jobs are, obstacles they might face, and what next steps workers could collectively build towards.
This model of assessment is called power mapping. It allows us to understand the scope of the problem within our work groups (our departments, buildings, and labs), while also identifying points of leverage (such as number of grades held in core classes and lab research outputs/deliverables and their deadlines) and possibilities for action.
A power map can be shared internally and updated as time goes on to clearly track a department’s situation at any given moment. For instance, in the lead up and during the unfolding of a strike, a department or lab’s participation, its moments of leverage and points of weakness, can be viewed and understood, and a composite picture can be created by combining the maps of different departments.
Powermapping not only helps to inform strategy and collective decisions and to enable a shared sense of the impact of a problem upon workers or a labor action upon the university, which can otherwise be difficult to detect. It also fosters organization directly by creating a shared project and demanding conversation and deliberation among coworkers.
Power mapping principles
- Tap into communication networks that already exist
- Encourage workers to collaborate with their closest coworkers – labmates, department colleagues, co-TAs or instructors – to power map together
- Try to reach as many workers as possible
Steps to map your department
Who is in the department?
Start by making a list of all of the workers in your department. Bring in other people to help spread the work around; it is ideal if you can begin with a department organizing committee (OC), even if it starts very small.
If you are making a list for the first time, you can refer to your department lists provided by the union or directories from your department website. You may be able to find TA names through your campus course schedule search page, and find researcher names through lab websites. Any one of these information sources may be incomplete, so be sure to gather information from multiple sources and cross-reference if needed.
What structures exist in the department, and how can you tap into each one? If workers are organized into labs, find a few people in each lab who can reach out to their coworkers. Try to get at least one person per year to reach out to their own cohort. Is there a groupchat, Slack space, Discord server, department mailing list? Do workers attend a social hour, or go to colloquium together? Are cohorts naturally close? Who has the best relationships with various people? Get creative!
Where are people working?
Text around your department or lab to find out who is working, and in which roles (teaching assistants, instructors of record, researchers), in which physical locations, and who each person’s PI or supervisor is. You can delegate to other people to help spread the work around.
As you do this outreach, you can make a copy of one of these templates to collect useful information.
- Template map_simple
- Template map_more detailed
- Template map_alternate option
- Template map_researchers
- Template map_funding
Mapping grades
There are times, particularly during strikes, where it makes sense to map the distribution of grades and grading labor in your department. See the following guide and templates:
- Visit your registrar website: (e.g. at UCSC: https://pisa.ucsc.edu/class_search/index.php)
- Search terms:
- Term: Spring 2024
- Status: All classes
- Subject: YOUR DEPARTMENT
- Make a note in the powermap once instructors are contacted and record their responses.
- Copy the following information into a spreadsheet (you can use this template):
- course title and name
- enrollment numbers
- instructor name
- Text around your dept and find out who is TAing in each class, and input their name (if this is not already listed). Color code their names by whether they are on strike or not.
- Identify the faculty for each course. Instructors (faculty and lecturers) not scabbing is crucial. Come up with a department plan for who can contact each faculty member or lecturer to ensure that they do not scab (this may include having other supportive faculty also reach out).
- Write template language for systematic outreach to instructors of record.
Templates:
- Template grade map_simple for departments
- Template campus-wide grade tracker for tracking all departments
Other details to consider mapping
Much of the following are in the templates above, but consider whether the following questions or information might be relevant to your situation.
- Do certain workers share office/lab space? These people may have rapport with each other and will be more willing to engage if they can talk as a group.
- Your department admin may track office assignments, try reaching out to them.
- Text and talk with other grads to figure out where people spend their work time
- How are workers being funded (TA/GSI/GSR/fellowship)?
- What kinds of research products do these grads produce? How urgent/timely are they?
- E.g. do grads culture cells (timely, requires upkeep) or run simulations (can be left unattended without consequence)? Text and talk with other grads to figure out what people work on and how much their consistent presence matters.
- What sorts of courses do grads teach? Are they the instructor of record or a TA? Are they the only grad assigned to the class, or do they work in a team with other teaching assistants, readers, and/or tutors? How many students do they have? What are upcoming points of disruption in the course (ie. midterms, finals, grading deadlines, etc)?
- Your department may have circulated a list/spreadsheet of TA assignments – drop by your department administrator’s office to ask for this list.