Examines cultural, institutional, and individual factors that affect how Chicanas fare in academia, noting structural and interpersonal barriers they encounter. Uncovers strategies Chicanas employ to wrest an empowered self from environments historically vested in a Eurocentric, male normative ordering of work, productivity, and merit. Results reveal that Chicana faculty are academic "others" who view themselves as agents of social change fighting for sustainable intellectual agendas. (SM)