Fidelity National Information Services’ Empower Division in Sharon announced that the company is committing $100,000 over the next four years in scholarships for local high school students.

The scholarships, $25,000 annually, will be awarded in the spring under The Herald’s Academic Excellence awards program.

Empower, better known locally as Eastern Software, funded the scholarship program for the previous four years. Under the program, 15 scholarships are given to high school seniors in The Herald’s circulation area at an awards dinner.

A team of judges will award the scholarships based on academic performance, involvement in extracurricular activities and a student’s contribution to the community.

“We think this is a very, very important thing that should be supported and pushed,’’ said Joseph P. Delaney, Empower’s president. “I strongly believe this is the ticket for economic growth of the Shenango Valley and the surrounding area.’’

Delaney said he wants to see talented students remain in the area after graduating from college and work in local businesses.

“I’ve participated in the scholarship program for several years now,’’ said Gary Groshner, Empower’s vice president of support systems. “To be able to contribute financially to the ongoing education of these area students is a great privilege.

“Attending the awards dinner and getting a chance to meet the bright, hard-working, civic-minded students who are the recipients of the scholarships is truly one of the highlights of the year. These are really great kids who have very bright futures in front of them and have the potential to make a great difference in the valley. We’d love for them to come back and work for our company, but even if they don’t, it’s a tremendous investment in the area.”

“This commitment by Empower represents a significant investment in our community and in the futures of many of our area students,’’ said Cris Anderson, division controller/administration for Empower. “This brings the total scholarships funded locally by Empower to nearly $300,000 and is truly an indication of our company’s ongoing dedication to assist in the development, and retention, of our local leaders of tomorrow.”

Last winter the company embarked on an expansion of its Sharon office as well as boosting its payroll. Over the past year the company grew 30 percent and added 60 jobs, with 50 of those being located in Sharon, Delaney said. Empower now employs 130 locally, making it by far Mercer County’s largest software employer.

Delaney, a New Jersey native, founded the company in 1984 and moved it to Sharon a year later as a programmable calculator producer.

By 1988 the business moved into creating personal computer software and employed half a dozen. Two years later, the company changed its focus again by offering software to mid-size lenders.

Changing its focus again in 1995, the company developed software for giants in the mortgage-lending industry. The product, called Empower, helps lenders originate and archive financial data and other information about their clients.

Empower sales skyrocketed and launched the company into the top tier of software producers for major lenders.

Delaney sold Eastern Software in 2002 to Fidelity National Financial Inc., a publicly owned company based in Jacksonville, Fla. Delaney has remained with the company, which operates as a division under Fidelity Information Systems.