Mary Pete

Career In 1984, she was hired by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Subsistence Division as a "resource specialist". In December 1995, she was appointed by Tony Knowles as director of the division. and the first Alaska Native woman to assume the role, which Kristi Shallenberger of Alaska Public Media called a "huge achievement". when she became the director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Kuskokwim campus. She was also the dean of the University's College of Rural and Community Development.

In 2010, she was appointed to the United States Arctic Research Commission She served in the role until 2017.

Pete was also involved in organizations studying or advocating for the victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. She was on the Alaska State Council on Domestic Violence and sexual assault. During the 1980s, she worked on the board of the Tundra Women's Coalition, In 1992, she was interviewed as an expert witness in a sexual assault trial, where she clarified that the Yup'ik practice of ing'ruk was not sexual act, but rather a display of affection where older Yu'pik members would sniff or kiss a child. In 2004, she criticized the Jesuit minister who oversaw missions in Alaska for his comments claiming that Alaska Native people, in particular the Yup'ik people, were "fairly loose" with sexual contact, and thus Yup'ik children molested by a Jesuit minister would be less traumatized when compared to children from other cultures. Pete characterised his interpretation of Yup'ik culture as "ridiculous" and questioned how the minister, as an anthropologist, had come to that conclusion.

Pete was an advocate of subsistence rights in Alaska. She stated that she believed restrictions on subsistence rights would disproportionately affect rural Alaskan women, who she believed were not adequately represented during the creation of subsistence-related policies.

Personal life and death Pete and her husband, Hubert Angaiak, adopted two children. Pete died at Providence Hospital on November 17, 2018 from issues related to ovarian cancer.

In 2019, she was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame for her work in education, including her role in creating a Yup'ik language degree, and Arctic related policies such as those concerning subsistence.