As IPFW students approach the end of the semester, “dead week” has taken a whole new meaning.

Once used to refer to the week before finals when no class assignments are given, these words don't carry the same lighthearted tone they once did after two student deaths in recent weeks.

“I want to get that changed,” said George McClellan, vice chancellor of student affairs, who couldn't bear the thought of the words being used that way ever again.

The university is dealing with the death of Liette N. Martinez, a junior who was fatally stabbed in her dorm apartment Friday. She will be remembered at a 2 p.m. Saturday tribute near Building H in the Waterfield complex.

Martinez's death came 12 days after the death of IPFW student Frederick D. Jones, who was shot at a party at an apartment near the campus April 6. Police, who have made no arrests in Jones' killing, say he was an innocent bystander hit by a stray bullet during an argument at the party.

Geraldine Martinez is touched by the outpouring of grief and sympathy in her daughter's death.

“We're just amazed at how many people's lives that she touched over there,” she said Tuesday from her home in Las Cruces, N.M. “We're just glad that they're doing something for her.”

Tina L. Morris, the mother of one of Liette Martinez's roommates, is accused of the crime. Police believe Morris - who has a violent criminal history - stabbed Martinez, nicknamed Lola, in a fight over remarks Martinez made to her daughter.

Geraldine Martinez said she and her husband will be unable to attend the memorial, but plan to meet with her daughter's friends and roommates including Morris' daughter. Geraldine Martinez said Morris' daughter bears no responsibility for her daughter's death.

Police have not made arrests in any of the other eight shooting homicides that occurred in the week before Jones'. Martinez's death is the only one with a suspect arrested out of the 13 homicides in Fort Wayne and Allen County in 2008.

Three days after Jones' death, students, staff and community members lighted candles and held a tear-filled service in his honor in the student housing complex where he lived.

McClellan said the situation is overwhelming for many students, who are receiving counseling on campus, but who were just “getting their lives back together” after Jones' death.

“We will get through,” he said. “But it's very difficult.”

The service for Liette Martinez will be different from Jones' to reflect both her creative and spiritual nature, McClellan said.

The program will feature prayer and Scripture reading along with a time for friends to share memories about the 22-year-old graphic arts student.

“We're very, very concerned about the students and offering them a proper opportunity to grieve and to pray,” said IPFW campus ministries director Ben Gates, who is helping to organize the service.

In memory of both students, four walls, which will serve as giant postcards, are being “constructed” around campus where individuals will be able to share thoughts and memories about Liette Martinez and Jones. Those blue-and-white postcards will then be given to the families.

Individual bricks are also being laid near the Walb Student Union with their names inscribed, and a tree is being planted by Jones' friends in the student housing complex.

Geraldine Martinez said her daughter mentioned Tina Morris was staying at the dorm, but didn't mention any problems with her. Martinez said her daughter was revolted by violence and was badly shaken by 9/11 and the Virginia Tech campus massacre. “It affected her as if it were her family,” Martinez said.

She said the biggest fear of her and husband Gabriel was that what happened at Virginia Tech might happen to their daughter.

“And it did. We're just in shock over here over this,” she said. “This was our only child. She was our baby.”