MTSU’s Project Help, Rutherford County’s only community- and center-based program serving very young children, including those with special needs, will honor its founder by renaming Project Help after her. A special dedication ceremony took place on Thursday.

Project Help, which was established in 1983, is now The Ann Campbell Early Learning Center at Middle Tennessee State University.  MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee unveiled the new sign at the main facility at 206 N. Baird Lane on the MTSU campus Thursday afternoon.

Dr. Campbell came to MTSU as a professor of special education in 1981 and immediately saw the desperate need for a developmental preschool in Murfreesboro. Through her groundbreaking work, thousands of young Tennessee children — those with special needs as well as those developing more typically — have received the education and support they need to thrive and grow into productive citizens.

Dr. Campbell was posthumously recognized earlier this month by a special joint resolution in the Tennessee General Assembly. Gov. Bill Haslam signed the measure April 10.