ORONO (AP) – The University of Maine is poised to implement a new communication system being put in place in response to the shootings last April at Virginia Tech that left 33 people dead.

The university expects to implement the system this week and to have it in place by Sept. 1.

“This technology allows us to communicate instantly with a large group of people in our community. That’s critical in a time-sensitive situation where getting information out is the first order of business,” spokesman Joe Carr said Tuesday. “A bonus in this case is that we’re able to use cell phone technology, which is an ideal way to communicate with students.”

Other units of the state university system have joined the flagship Orono campus in upgrading their notification capabilities.

Similar systems are under consideration at the Farmington and Fort Kent campuses, while the University of Southern Maine has a plan to send information automatically to emergency response team members by phone, cell phone, text messaging and e-mail.

Virginia Tech officials came under criticism after the shootings for failing to act quickly enough to notify students and employees of the threat.

Under the system at Orono, students, staff and faculty who register on the Web will receive emergency notifications in the form of text messages on their cell phones and/or e-mail messages. The system also allows for delivery to personal communication devices, text pagers and user home pages on Google, AOL or My Yahoo.

There were two bomb scares at the University of Maine after the shootings, and school officials said the new system would have made it easier to notify community members about what was happening and where to go.

“In our case, President (Robert) Kennedy instructed us to address the issue in a comprehensive way and to put in place the procedures that will assure effective communications in the event of a serious emergency situation that requires mass notification,” Dean of Students Robert Dana said.

In addition to the Web-based notification system, the university is installing an alarm that can be heard throughout the entire campus as a signal to students and others to check their cell phones, e-mails or the university Web site for more information.

“It’s a critical part of the emergency notification system that we’re developing,” Carr said.