After more than 30 years with a name that announced its goals, MTSU’s Project Help is taking the name of its founder and its expanded services.

MTSU unveiled a new sign Friday at the North Baird Lane headquarters for Rutherford County’s only community- and center-based program serving very young children, including those with special needs.

It now proudly reads “The Ann Campbell Early Learning Center at Middle Tennessee State University.”

Campbell, who passed away in 2011, was posthumously recognized for her dedication to childhood education by a special joint resolution in this year’s session of the Tennessee General Assembly. Gov. Bill Haslam signed the proclamation April 10.

The Lenoir City, Tenn., native spent her career creating groundbreaking opportunities for children with special educational needs. After stints in Arkansas and Memphis, Campbell came to MTSU in 1981 as one of only two professors of special education and immediately saw the desperate need for a developmental preschool in Murfreesboro.

By 1983, she had created “Project HELP” — Help Educate Little People — at MTSU to provide a classroom environment for developmentally delayed preschool children and a training ground for education majors.

For more details about the Ann Campbell Early Learning Center at MTSU visit http://MTSUNews.com/project-help-renamed.