To relieve the nursing faculty shortage, notable numbers of master's prepared clinical nurse experts are entering the ranks of nursing faculty to teach the prelicensure nursing student. The transition from clinical practice to the academia raises concern about the adequacy of preparation for the complex specialization role of nurse educator. In response to this concern, this hermeneutic phenomenological study was implemented to gain insight about the experience of the novice nursing faculty in academia. It examined the perceptions of facilitators and barriers to the development of nurse educator practice competence and also sought to identify transformative learning experiences related to novice faculty development. The data consisted of audio recordings and verbatim transcripts of opened-ended face-to-face interviews along with journal data describing the day-to-day experiences as novice nurse educators. The findings revealed key facilitators and barriers to the development of nurse educator competence and transformative learning experiences which also influenced the development of teaching practice competence. The implications of this study underscored the need for two primary components in the novice nurse educator experience to support the development of teaching practice competence, a competent compassionate mentor and an internship program for novice nursing faculty. Major elements that contribute to transformative learning experiences for new nursing faculty were also identified. The recommendations are to create academic environments that incorporate key facilitators to the development of teaching practice competence and to structure academic communities to enable transformative learning for new faculty, both being important to the development of quality excellence in the role of nursing faculty teaching the prelicensure nursing student. [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://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]