WINONA — Winona State University said it fired the dean of its College of Business in September after an investigation into alleged inappropriate contact with students.

University President Scott Olson said the investigation found that Bill Murphy held “highly personal, sexually oriented discussions” with students and asked to photograph students “in various degrees of dress.”

Olson said he began an immediate investigation, and Murphy was fired in September. The school didn’t announce his firing until after a grievance by the Inter Faculty Organization was settled.

Winona police investigated material on Murphy’s school-issued computer but found nothing criminal.

Messages left on a home phone number listed under Murphy’s name weren’t immediately returned Friday. Messages with IFO officials also weren’t returned.

The settlement said Murphy wasn’t given severance.