University of Washington and was very displeased with its findings. Many of the professors admitted to being former communists and were fired because of it. This was believed to set an important precedent as it raises the question, is this the case at other universities? This rising tension between educational institutions and these investigative committees likely played a large part in Phillips's unwillingness to definitively state her ties. A denial and proper accordance to McCarran's trial would grant it respect and reason. A denial could also represent a back turn to her students and other teachers investigating ideas for how life should be managed. An admittance has very clear, bad implications but it would also require further investigation as there is no evidence of such ties. Later years After her retirement from the University of Chicago in 1972, Phillips continued teaching as a visiting professor at Stony Brook University (1972–75) and at the Graduate School of the University of Science and Technology of China, Chinese Academy of Science, in Beijing in 1980. In 1987 Brooklyn College publicly and personally apologized to Phillips for her dismissal from the College in 1952. Death and legacy Phillips died of coronary artery disease on November 8, 2004, at the age of ninety-seven, in a nursing home in Petersburg, Indiana. As a leading physics educator of her era, Phillips received numerous citations and awards for her contributions to science education. Phillips is especially noted for developing and implementing curriculum for teaching physics and co-authoring two textbooks in the 1950s for collegiate physics courses. She also wrote and edited works history of physics and the history of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Honors and tributes Member, Phi Beta Kappa. Fellow, American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1974 Phillips was awarded the Oersted Medal from the American Association of Physics Teachers; she was also the recipient of the AAPT's Distinguished Service Citation in 1963. Phillips became the first recipient of the Melba Newell Phillips Medal, an award that the AAPT established in 1981. The medal is periodically presented to AAPT members "who have provided creative leadership and dedicated service that resulted in exceptional contributions to AAPT." In 1981 Phillips received the Karl Taylor Compton Award from the American Institute of Physics. In 1988 she was the recipient of Vanderbilt University's Guy and Rebecca Forman Award for Outstanding Teaching in