Celebrated academic in trouble, embracing student (9)
I believe the answer is:
acclaimed
'celebrated' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'academic in trouble embracing student' is the wordplay.
'in trouble' indicates anagramming the letters.
'embracing' indicates putting letters inside.
'student' becomes 'l' (as in L-plates for learner drivers).
'academic' with letters rearranged gives 'accaimed'.
'accaimed' going around 'l' is 'ACCLAIMED'.
(Other definitions for acclaimed that I've seen before include "Hailed, heralded" , "Strongly praised" , "Highly respected" .)