Our STS professors do cool things both inside and outside the classroom! This press release features one of Dr. Mary Witlacil’s recent climbing accomplishments.

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RAPID CITY, SD (Sept. 30, 2025) – Rising nearly 9,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, Alaska’s Devil’s Thumb is as infamous as it is remote—a jagged peak known for brutal weather, frequent avalanches, sheer ice walls and a history of turning climbers back. Few have ever stood on its summit. None had done so as an all-women team.

Until this summer.

Mary Witlacil, Ph. D., a South Dakota Mines assistant professor of political science, and her climbing partner, Sarah Malone, etched their names into mountaineering history when they conquered the mountain’s eastern ridge.