As the frontline nurse leaders, associate degree nursing (ADN) faculty members represent the key players for a seamless RN-BSN academic progression at the fundamental level of nursing education, which requires a balanced academic-clinical practice teaching. However, the Institute of Medicine's recommendation on expanded scope of nursing practice amidst healthcare reform has raised concerns about inadequate preparation of prelicensure nurses for today's healthcare delivery. Because ADN faculty may experience a growing unfamiliarity with those fast-expanding nursing practice and collaborative responsibilities, including but not limited to, complex technology use and innovative patient treatment approaches, education reform for prelicensure nurses must begin with effective faculty development. Due to a lack of published research studies on ADN faculty's academic-clinical practice or dual-competency expertise development needs, the purpose of this research study was to explore the adequacy of conventional faculty development activities at California community colleges with the intention of preparing a more highly qualified nursing workforce. A generic qualitative research design with an exploratory approach and open-ended, semistructured questions was used to obtain key information that comprehensively explained the meaning of those complex faculty development issues from the ADN faculty's personal perspectives as the insiders' view. Individual face-to-face interviews, observational data, and personal documents (i.e., faculty's curriculum vitae and faculty's demographic data surveys) were used to collect the data. A convenience sample consisted of 10 randomly selected full-time, tenured ADN faculty from various public community colleges based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, was used to achieve data saturation. The data analysis was driven by the use of inductive analysis based on Bandura's (1977) social learning theory that emphasizes the interdependence relationship between individual behaviors and environmental conditions. All six overarching themes obtained in this study, namely work climate, faculty development barriers, the most common types of ADN faculty development activities, leadership, workload/schedule, and faculty role modeling are broadly in line with previous research that demonstrated powerful environmental influences in ADN faculty professional development. This study is the first step towards enhancing our understanding of the adverse effects of budgetary constraints, heavy workload, tenured status, ineffective leadership, powerful unions, and other barriers on ADN faculty development in bureaucratic institutions such as community colleges. Future research in these areas is necessary. Although the findings from this study were inconclusive, evidence suggests that positive work climate, robust nursing leadership, and administrative support are the vital forces in building strong ADN faculty to transform contemporary healthcare through innovative teaching. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]