A new research collaboratory is drawing a lot of attention from faculty members at UNC. But campus leadership says it feels it is doing enough to calm any remaining concerns regarding the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory.

UNC was directed to launch the venture by the Republican-led General Assembly, which initially caused concern from some faculty members over who would be leading the research and the overall process of it coming to life.

UNC announced in a news release that it would be moving forward with the collaboratory and Brad Ives, the university’s chief sustainability officer and associate vice chancellor for campus enterprises, would be managing the collaboratory on an interim basis and its function would fall under the purview of the UNC Provost Jim Dean.

Chancellor Carol Folt said last week that placing the provost at the helm showed the seriousness with which the university is taking the venture.

“We’re basically saying, ‘We take it very seriously,’” Folt said. “The integrity of the institution and the goal to meet the needs of the state are really important to us.

“So I’m actually pretty excited about the opportunity to really try to make good on that promise.”

Folt reiterated the leadership of Dean would keep the values of the university top of mind.

“Asking the provost to lead it is my indication that that really matters to me and matters to the university,” Folt said.

The state legislature ordered the institution’s development as part of the most recent budget in order to have first-hand access to research to use while developing policy specific to environmental concerns.

The release from UNC said that it was hopeful two new staff positions in the areas of research coordination and community engagement would be created in the next three months.