Awarded by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1964 during their 159th annual exhibition, this distinction brought international attention to her artwork.
[4] In 1967, McCullough was invited by Friendship Exchange to visit Moscow, Leningrad, Alma-Ata and Baku, Soviet Union, Iran, and Prague, Czechoslovakia.
Her abstract welded steel sculptures have been compared by art historians such as Lisa E. Farrington to the artistic aesthetic and work of Barbara Chase-Riboud.
[10] Other public sculptures include Phoenix Rising (1977), located at Maywood Civic Plaza (near 5th Ave. and Fred Hampton Way), Maywood, Illinois; The Bronzeville Walk of Fame in Chicago; The Spirit of Du Sable (1977) at the Du Sable Museum of African American History sculpture garden in Chicago; Millflower (1979) in Geneva, Illinois, and Pathfinder, dedicated in 1982 and located in Oak Park, Illinois where McCullough lived and worked during her last 40 years (1968-2008).
In 1964, she was most notably distinguished with the George D. Widener Memorial Gold Medal for sculpture during the 159th Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts which awarded her national and international recognition.
Subsequently, she was invited by Friendship Exchange to visit Moscow, Lenningrad, Alma-Ata and Baku, Soviet Union, Iran, and Prague, Czechoslovakia.