Business
Progress Establishes Scholarship for Women in STEM
Honors Mary Székely, the company’s fourth founder and architect of OpenEdge; application process now open through Friday, March 20, 2020 BEDFORD, Mass., Feb.
About this update from Progress Software Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"Honors Mary Székely, the company’s fourth founder and architect of OpenEdge; application process now open through Friday, March 20, 2020\nBEDFORD, Mass., Feb. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Progress (NASDAQ: PRGS), the leading provider of application development and digital experience technologies, today announced that it has established the Progress Software Mary Székely Scholarship for Women in STEM. The scholarship was created to honor the late Mary Székely (pronounced: “See-kay”), Progress’ fourth founder, first employee and lead software engineer for more than 30 years. This scholarship is a key part of Progress’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. \n This scholarship is a four-year renewable scholarship of $10,000 annually to cover tuition, fees and educational expenses. Eligible candidates are women, or those who identify as women, who reside in Massachusetts and who are pursuing an undergraduate degree in computer information systems, software engineering, IT and/or computer science. The application process for the 2020-2021 academic year is now underway and is administered by The Philanthropic Initiative, an affiliate of The Boston Foundation. “Mary was the heart and soul of Progress’ engineering organization and a key architect of our flagship OpenEdge product,” said Yogesh Gupta, CEO Progress. “The tremendous impact she made on our company, our people and our customers is felt to this day. She was dedicated and generous, with a passion for learning who strove for excellence. What better way to honor her memory than to establish this scholarship; providing an opportunity for women to advance their education in STEM, in order to pursue a career in these fields.” Mary Székely led development efforts at Progress for its core technology platform, Progress® OpenEdge®, for more than 30 years, from 1982 to 2013. She was a trailblazer at a time when women pursuing careers in STEM fields were rare. In addition to developing the product that would continue to drive Progress’ success, to this day, Mary had a love for math and science and was dedicated to expanding opportunities for anyone interested in the computer science field through mentorship and education. “My mother began working as a software engineer in the 1970s, when there were very few women in the field. She felt that the best way to get ahead as a woman ...