PIERRE (AP) - A higher education official says a new emergency alert system for South Dakota's public universities will soon be up and running.

Monte Kramer, director of finance and administration for the state Board of Regents, says the system could be operating within a month or so.

A task force has selected National Notification Network to supply the emergency alert system, which will be used to notify students and others on campus about safety threats, evacuations and other issues.

The system will allow emergency notifications to be sent by telephone, e-mail, text messaging, faxes, pagers and other devices.