By Jennifer K. Morita

October 03, 2024

It’s not every day a member of a university presidential cabinet can be found out on its quad, teaching students, faculty and staff a few basic tai chi moves.

But those schools aren’t like Sac State.

The growing martial arts community has been gathering twice a week in the Main Quad for the past month, stretching and strengthening their muscles under a canopy of trees while learning tai chi and kung fu from Senior Advisor to the President Mark Wheeler.

“It’s the president’s vision that every day there will be something happening here that speaks to the culture of the campus and brings people together with a sense of joy and a little relief from their work.” -- Mark Wheeler, senior advisor to the president

The free noontime events are part of a new effort by Sac State President Luke Wood to foster community through diverse programming that promotes wellness, cultural celebration and educational engagement.

In addition to Wheeler’s martial arts class every Tuesday and Thursday, future events will include a Latine Pop-Up and a kickoff celebration for Filipino American Appreciation Month, as well as yoga and hula classes.

“The park-like environment here is so beautiful, and it’s central to the identity of the campus,” Wheeler said. “The president hopes to see this become a community center, not only for the people on campus, but for people off campus as well.”

A temporary stage has been set up between Sacramento Hall and River Front Center and will be the home of the new Acorn Amphitheater, where plans to build a permanent stage are underway.

“The hope is that over time we’ll build up activities so there’s a regular pattern, a rhythm of events,” Wheeler said. “Not only will the campus community know about it, but people in the community at large will pop over at lunch to sit on the lawn and listen to a concert or a talk or do a little yoga or tai chi.

“It’s the president’s vision that every day there will be something happening here that speaks to the culture of the campus and brings people together with a sense of joy and a little relief from their work.”

Wheeler grew up in the suburbs of Boston playing traditional American sports such as baseball and soccer but became fascinated with martial arts after watching Bruce Lee movies.

“I was enamored with martial arts from those popularizations,” he said. “It was also an era when Mohammed Ali was boxing, and we had really glorious martial arts from the Western boxing tradition, too.”

He began studying traditional Chinese kung fu while an undergraduate but had to give it up while earning his master’s degree. By 1995, when he was a tenure-track philosophy professor at San Diego State University, he began training with the White Dragon Martial Arts school system.

A decade later, he was teaching kung fu and tai chi to others.

“I believe everybody can benefit from kung fu, but I also believe everybody has a different passion, a different interest. Some people would rather play badminton or dance or do yoga,” he said.

“But martial arts are a wonderful way to pursue health and joy.”

For more information about future events at Acorn Amphitheater, contact the Office for Cultural Transformation at oct@csus.edu.