Trained as a teacher, she also served as a college administrator and led the first elected school board for the Arlington Public Schools as it attempted to navigate Massive Resistance, then helped found WETA-TV, the first public television station in Washington, D.C.[1] Elizabeth Pfohl was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to a Moravian minister and a music teacher.

[2] In Arlington, as she raised her family, Campbell realized that Virginia's public schools had very real problems, in part due to underfunding, as well as policies of racial segregation which had been added to the state constitution early in the century.

[4] While on the board (beginning in 1948, and including after her re-election in 1951), Campbell was instrumental in adding fine arts classes, as well as comparable facilities for African-American and white students.

Beginning in 1954, Campbell helped pave the way to desegregate Arlington's public schools, despite opposition to the Supreme Court's decisions in Brown vs. Board of Education proclaimed by Virginia's U.S.

Her husband came to represent parents of students in Norfolk, Virginia who had been locked out of schools closed by the Byrd Organization rather than allow then to integrate pursuant to court orders.

While she was the GWETA president, Campbell worked hard to raise funds for a local educational TV station in Washington, DC.

[4] During this time, she helped to launch the Children's Art Festival of the Washington area and the Elizabeth P. Campbell Lecture Series, which presented broadcasting notables.

Because of her groundwork for WETA as well as public broadcasting in general, Campbell was given high honors, including an Emmy Award in 1987, honorary doctorates from Washington and Lee University and Salem College.

[7] Arlington County had previously erected a historical marker in Shirlington named "Campbell Lane" near WETA headquarters after the couple.