Local couple donates $1 million to alma mat

W. Barry and Patricia H. Phelps of Thousand Oaks have made a gift of $1 million to their alma mater, St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. The Phelps’ gift supports the university’s annual fund and the construction of new science facilities on campus.

Both majored in mathematics and graduated from the university in 1969.

Barry Phelps earned an MBA at the University of Rochester. Currently he is president of Spirent Communications in Calabasas, where he had previously served as president of their Performance Analysis Solutions division and as president and CEO of their SmartBits business unit. He serves on the St. Lawrence University board of trustees.

Patricia Phelps served as a member of the board of education in Thousand Oaks from 1998 to 2002 and as board president for one year.

The couple established the Phelps Biology Student Research Fund in 1997 and the Phelps Family University Fellows Endowment in 2000 to support collaborative student/faculty research in the sciences at St. Lawrence.

Their son, Christopher, graduated from St. Lawrence in 1996 with with a degree in biology.