Receiving his baccalaureate degree from Dickinson College in 1828, Campbell attended Princeton Theological Seminary for one year.

For the next few years, Campbell briefly taught and preached at several locations before assuming a position as Professor of Oriental Languages at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary and simultaneously filling the post of Professor of Belles Lettres at Rutgers College.

In 1848, Reverend Campbell became Principal of The Albany Academy before he was appointed the president of Rutgers College in 1862.

[1] During his tenure, the separation from the Dutch Reformed Church was about complete, and with the development of the Rutgers Scientific School (established with the assistance of Professor George H. Cook for whom it was later renamed), Rutgers beat out the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) to be designated by the state legislature as New Jersey's land-grant college in 1864 under the Morrill Act of 1862.

He then organized the Suydam Street Reformed Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and served as its pastor until shortly before his death.