Ileana Oroza joined the School of Communication faculty in the spring of 2000. For the previous 22 years, she was on the staff of The Miami Herald. In her last position at The Herald, as assistant managing editor, she supervised newsroom operations in the evenings and was responsible for the Universal Desk and A-section content. Also at The Herald, she served on the editorial board and was foreign editor and arts and entertainment editor. She began her Herald career at El Herald, the Spanish language daily, where she served as city editor, features editor and general assignment reporter. Before working at The Herald, she was a producer of public affairs programs at WPLG-Channel 10. Oroza has a Master of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts from Newcomb College, Tulane University, both in English literature. She also studied at the University of Sheffield, England.

Oroza was a Thomas J. Watson fellow in Europe, 1971-72; a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at UNC-Chapel Hill, 1972-73; and a National Arts Journalism Fellow at Columbia University in New York, 1995-96. She was on the board of the National Arts Journalism Program from 1996 to 2002. She is a member of the boards of the Cintas Foundation and the Miami Design Preservation League.  Oroza also serves as the director of the Spanish Language Masters in Journalism program.