Deni Elliott has been appointed ethics officer for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the region's major water importer and wholesaler. Metropolitan created the office of ethics in 1999.

As ethics officer, Elliott will report directly to the board of directors and continue to serve in the position part time. She is responsible for fostering and supporting a model of ethical culture at Metropolitan that is applicable to directors, managers and staff.

Elliott holds the Poynter Jamison Chair in Media Ethics and Press Policy at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg and is a tenured full professor in the Department of Journalism there. Elliott has more than 24 years experience in teaching ethics at the University of Montana, Dartmouth, Utah State University and Wayne State University. Elliott was founding director of the Ethics Institute at Dartmouth College and of the Practical Ethics Center at the University of Montana.

Elliott has served as an ethics consultant with government, business and news organizations, including stints as ethics coach/reporter for WCSH-TV, the Louisville Courier Journal and Philadelphia Inquirer.

Elliott received her bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Maryland and earned her secondary teaching certificate and master’s degree in philosophy from Michigan’s Wayne State University. She was awarded an interdisciplinary doctoral degree from Harvard University in the philosophy of education. She has extensive publications in ethics for scholarly, trade and lay audiences.