diff --git a/cms/envs/common.py b/cms/envs/common.py
index 33be61f1af..39478d627e 100644
--- a/cms/envs/common.py
+++ b/cms/envs/common.py
@@ -680,7 +680,7 @@ STATICFILES_DIRS = [
 
 # Locale/Internationalization
 CELERY_TIMEZONE = 'UTC'
-TIME_ZONE = 'America/New_York'  # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_zones_by_name
+TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'
 LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en'  # http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/language-identifiers.html
 LANGUAGES_BIDI = lms.envs.common.LANGUAGES_BIDI
 
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/program_enrollments/api/v1/tests/test_views.py b/lms/djangoapps/program_enrollments/api/v1/tests/test_views.py
index ec25886b45..adfa913096 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/program_enrollments/api/v1/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/program_enrollments/api/v1/tests/test_views.py
@@ -1738,8 +1738,8 @@ class ProgramCourseEnrollmentOverviewViewTests(ProgramCacheTestCaseMixin, Shared
 
         course_run_overview = response.data['course_runs'][0]
 
-        self.assertEqual(course_run_overview['start_date'], '2018-12-31T05:00:00Z')
-        self.assertEqual(course_run_overview['end_date'], '2019-01-02T05:00:00Z')
+        self.assertEqual(course_run_overview['start_date'], '2018-12-31T00:00:00Z')
+        self.assertEqual(course_run_overview['end_date'], '2019-01-02T00:00:00Z')
 
         # course run end date may not exist
         self.course_overview.end = None
diff --git a/lms/envs/common.py b/lms/envs/common.py
index 7c5cec67f2..51ca49e960 100644
--- a/lms/envs/common.py
+++ b/lms/envs/common.py
@@ -994,7 +994,7 @@ MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
 
 # Locale/Internationalization
 CELERY_TIMEZONE = 'UTC'
-TIME_ZONE = 'America/New_York'  # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_zones_by_name
+TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'
 LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en'  # http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/language-identifiers.html
 # these languages display right to left
 LANGUAGES_BIDI = ("he", "ar", "fa", "ur", "fa-ir", "rtl")
diff --git a/openedx/features/content_type_gating/tests/test_models.py b/openedx/features/content_type_gating/tests/test_models.py
index 59e3bc8c71..e7cb035d6b 100644
--- a/openedx/features/content_type_gating/tests/test_models.py
+++ b/openedx/features/content_type_gating/tests/test_models.py
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ class TestContentTypeGatingConfig(CacheIsolationTestCase):
             all_configs[CourseLocator('7-True', 'test_course', 'run-None')],
             {
                 'enabled': (True, Provenance.org),
-                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 5, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
+                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 0, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
                 'studio_override_enabled': (None, Provenance.default),
             }
         )
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ class TestContentTypeGatingConfig(CacheIsolationTestCase):
             all_configs[CourseLocator('7-True', 'test_course', 'run-False')],
             {
                 'enabled': (False, Provenance.run),
-                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 5, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
+                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 0, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
                 'studio_override_enabled': (None, Provenance.default),
             }
         )
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ class TestContentTypeGatingConfig(CacheIsolationTestCase):
             all_configs[CourseLocator('7-None', 'test_course', 'run-None')],
             {
                 'enabled': (True, Provenance.site),
-                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 5, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
+                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 0, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
                 'studio_override_enabled': (None, Provenance.default),
             }
         )
diff --git a/openedx/features/course_duration_limits/tests/test_models.py b/openedx/features/course_duration_limits/tests/test_models.py
index fb5b22c083..1ec9898b0a 100644
--- a/openedx/features/course_duration_limits/tests/test_models.py
+++ b/openedx/features/course_duration_limits/tests/test_models.py
@@ -236,21 +236,21 @@ class TestCourseDurationLimitConfig(CacheIsolationTestCase):
             all_configs[CourseLocator('7-True', 'test_course', 'run-None')],
             {
                 'enabled': (True, Provenance.org),
-                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 5, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
+                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 0, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
             }
         )
         self.assertEqual(
             all_configs[CourseLocator('7-True', 'test_course', 'run-False')],
             {
                 'enabled': (False, Provenance.run),
-                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 5, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
+                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 0, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
             }
         )
         self.assertEqual(
             all_configs[CourseLocator('7-None', 'test_course', 'run-None')],
             {
                 'enabled': (True, Provenance.site),
-                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 5, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
+                'enabled_as_of': (datetime(2018, 1, 1, 0, tzinfo=pytz.UTC), Provenance.run),
             }
         )