Career technical education plays an important part in the mission of community colleges – providing educational opportunities needed by members of their communities. Career technical programs prepare students for entry into the workforce. Accountability standards for career technical programs, from local, state, and federal bodies, monitor placement of career technical graduates in jobs related to their field of study. To help these students become more competitive in the job market, curricula are being aligned with national certifications to help students graduate from career technical programs with stackable credentials. Stackable credentials refer to the idea of “stacking” degrees, certifications, and credentials along the way to an education in a particular field of study. Some of these credentials can be costly, though, requiring career technical program administrators to question whether implementing this stackable credential structure is truly beneficial for the students. The purpose of this study was to examine survey results of industry representatives who serve on advisory committees for career technical programs at a rural community college to ascertain whether earning stackable credentials in career technical programs at a rural community college does increase opportunities for employment. Data were obtained from an Industry Input Survey conducted at a rural community college. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Results of this study indicate that while entry-level employment requirements focus more on a high-school diploma or high school equivalency exam and an earned Associate of Applied Science degree, the majority of participants did indicate that holding a national certification would give a potential employee hiring preferences. Results of the analysis are presented in narrative and table form. Conclusions and recommendations for future research follow discussion of analysis.

Humanitarian accountability has been a topic of discussion since the 1990s, in response to a number of high-level scandals. Dozens of initiatives highlighting the importance of accountability to affected populations have been established. However, humanitarian organisations still receive criticisms for lacking accountability. This thesis examines the research question: How does the World Food Programme use international standards to guide accountability in its humanitarian interventions in Iraq, and how these standards fulfil its commitments to the affected populations? This is done through an in-depth case study of the WFP, in the context of Iraq. The academic literature highlights the concept of humanitarian accountability as both a practical concern as well as a moral one. This is emphasised within the literature of humanitarian organisations together with how accountability, as a concept, have been poorly defined, and research as to its practice is continuously lacking. This research found that the accountability provided was mainly technical and accountability to affected populations in Iraq remain low. Accountability practices that are currently in place does not live up to the commitment made by the WFP to affected populations in Iraq. Further, the research pinpoints how accountability within the WFP has become more of a technical standard in practice, which has resulted in limited scope of accountability to affected populations in Iraq. This results in phantom accountability, characterised by meaningless mechanisms and indicators that instead portray an image of accountability while not translating into actual practical actions towards affected populations.