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He has helped guide future business and government leaders while simultaneously having a hand in framing important energy, regulatory and fiscal policy.

While it would be easy to take a step back after more than five decades at the 91��������, , PhD, still finds himself excited to come into work every day.

A research fellow in the (SPP) and a professor emeritus in the at the , he says the main draw is that no two days are ever the same when working with colleagues and decision-makers on challenging policy issues.

Mansell, who has been a professor, department head, dean, associate vice-provost, special advisor to the president and academic director, and has sat on boards of government agencies and commissions, has seen a good part of 91�������� evolution first-hand and says the spirit of innovation and impact is still inspiring to see.

“The incredible growth in the activities and impact of the university has been striking and a testament to the energy, passion, ingenuity and dedication of the many faculty and staff,” he says. 

“It’s also the people in the broader community that have been so supportive and enthusiastic about adopting new and innovative approaches to deal with the many growing challenges facing society. Having the opportunity to work and participate in this environment has been very fulfilling.”

It’s that mindset that still has him working on new projects, supporting as a donor and mentoring students as SPP continues to lead on key policy research, education, and outreach.

Finding his passion

Born in Hanna, Mansell lived in a few smaller communities with his family as they followed his father’s work with the Canadian National Railway.

Moving around, along with working a variety of summer jobs on farms, in construction and at his brother’s furnace company, helped him realize he wanted to do something quite different.

Mansell enrolled at the University of Alberta with the ultimate goal of a career in medicine, but quickly shifted his focus after taking an economics class.

“It was intriguing and I quite liked the quantitative part,” he says. “The data, the strong analytical framework, and the connection of all the moving pieces in an economy to individual and societal well-being was fascinating.”

After earning his PhD in 1975, Mansell accepted a position as assistant professor of economics at UCalgary.

Preparing the leaders of tomorrow

As he reflects on his journey at UCalgary, Mansell takes great joy in watching the progress of his former students in their careers, including the many who have risen to the top of their professions and in leadership roles in the private and public sectors.

His hope is that the analytical tools, critical thinking skills and high professional standards that he always stressed in his lectures played some role in their success.

“For some, you can just see that they’re reaching out for something bigger that is beyond what’s in the textbook,” says Mansell, who mentored UCalgary alum and former prime minister , BA’85, MA’91. “They ask pretty good questions, and they just see a bigger world than other students.”

Guiding the conversation

Mansell believes much of the success had by the School of Public Policy since its founding in 2008 has been based on its well-informed, multidisciplinary, data-driven and community-engaged approach.

Mansell, who was SPP’s first academic director, says it starts with its connection with the academic and broader communities, always making sure to include conversations with key stakeholders and decision-makers to stay focused and practical.

It’s allowed the School to remain at the leading edge of research and many conversations and debates in key focus areas, including health and social policy; energy and natural resources policy; economic and fiscal policy; international policy; and Canadian governance policy.

Mansell says another goal has been to get ahead of emerging issues to enhance the relevance and impact of the School’s research and outreach, with a prime example being federal discussions about nation-building projects in Canada.

It initiated the Canadian Northern Corridor Program a few years ago with a focus on the changes required to address the growing infrastructure deficit in Canada. This generated 50 research publications from different disciplinary perspectives, as well as reports on consultations with many communities and groups across the country.

“The timing proved to be excellent given the more recent attraction by governments to the urgent need to expand infrastructure to facilitate more interregional trade, diversity our international trade, create opportunities for communities and address northern security issues,” Mansell says.

Using history to guide our future

“Practical. Focused. Global.”

Mansell says the School of Public Policy’s original tagline is also a personal guiding light that he hopes current and future university students keep in mind.

The former dean of the says it starts with learning from history as we look to shape our future. 

“So many of these unsettling disruptions that we’re seeing now in the areas of trade and international policy, we’ve seen versions of in the past,” Mansell says. 

“They may look different, but the fundamentals are basically the same. We have an obligation to not only create and disseminate new knowledge but to also make sure knowledge and hard lessons from the past aren’t forgotten.”

From there, he says it’s about “controlling what you can control” and taking advantage of opportunities when they come your way, like when the namesake for the was approached to be part of the School of Public Policy’s creation.

“I’ve really enjoyed my experience at the school. Working with , the opportunity to build the School from the ground up has been very rewarding,” Mansell says. “With a little bit of good fortune, it has been a success and so my heart is still in helping, wherever I can, the strong leadership in place to take it to the next level, whatever that is.”