Senior academic ignoring last page in book (5)
I believe the answer is:
recto
'page in book' is the definition.
(right-hand page of a book)
'senior academic ignoring last' is the wordplay.
'senior academic' becomes 'rector'.
'ignoring last' means to remove the last letter.
'rector' with its last letter removed is 'RECTO'.
(Other definitions for recto that I've seen before include "No leaves left" , "right page" , "front of leaf" , "front page" , "The right-hand page or leaf of a book" .)