Murder victim will be remembered at University of Guelph
Flags will fly at half-mast, memorial being planned for Yaun (Tracy) Tian
September 09, 2008
Vik Kirsch
Mercury Staff
GUELPH
The University of Guelph co-op co-ordinator for murder victim Yuan (Tracy) Tian was struggling yesterday with the news a woman he'd respected for her energy, drive and commitment to a future in business was dead.
"To have a student murdered -- it's beyond description," Ian Wallace said yesterday, pausing to compose himself.
"It's still incredibly tragic . . . so incredibly sad."
He was cherishing a Christmas card she sent him.
"I'm glad I kept it," he said softly. "It's on my desk right now."
University spokesperson Lori Bona Hunt said campus flags will fly at half-mast today or later this week, though details of any memorial service on campus for the 31-year-old economics graduate student are not yet known.
"There'll be a notice about it on the (university) webpage."
Tian, who preferred to go by the first name Tracy, was discovered bound and stabbed to death in her North York apartment last week, with a search for the killer continuing.
She immigrated to Canada from China in 2005, initially attended the University of Windsor before coming to the local campus, continuing an education in economics she began in Asia.
She hadn't technically received her master's degree from the University of Guelph.
Bona Hunt said the woman had finished her master's thesis and was approved for graduation a few weeks ago, but was to attend convocation ceremonies next February.
"She didn't have her degree yet," Bona Hunt said.
Co-op students periodically spend time working on job sites between studies. As a co-op student living in north Toronto, Tian was only on the Guelph campus from time to time.
Wallace, as the university's co-op co-ordinator, helped Tian find a work placement in June last year with a downtown Toronto energy firm, a deployment that lasted until this past April. She worked this summer on her thesis and planned to search for a permanent job this fall, he added.
Wallace was particularly struck by her enthusiasm and warm personality.
"(She was) someone who was incredibly nice, positive, professional," Wallace said, adding she thought she had a good future as a business analyst. "She was so genuinely excited and appreciative of having this great opportunity."
She had a head for business analysis, or "number crunching," as Wallace put it yesterday.
"She was really looking forward to taking on that role."
She had so much potential, he added.
"That's just the incredibly tragic part of this to have to deal with," Wallace said.
Seeing her name flash across the television screen the other day as a murder victim "was pretty numbing," Wallace said.
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