diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tasks.py b/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tasks.py
index 8debf9eeb0..16ce53f112 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tasks.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tasks.py
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ def perform_delegate_email_batches(entry_id, course_id, task_input, action_name)
     # code that doesn't need the entry_id.
     if course_id != entry.course_id:
         format_msg = u"Course id conflict: explicit value %r does not match task value %r"
-        log.warning("Task %s: " + format_msg, task_id, course_id, entry.course_id)
+        log.warning(u"Task %s: " + format_msg, task_id, course_id, entry.course_id)
         raise ValueError(format_msg % (course_id, entry.course_id))
 
     # Fetch the CourseEmail.
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ def perform_delegate_email_batches(entry_id, course_id, task_input, action_name)
     except CourseEmail.DoesNotExist:
         # The CourseEmail object should be committed in the view function before the task
         # is submitted and reaches this point.
-        log.warning("Task %s: Failed to get CourseEmail with id %s", task_id, email_id)
+        log.warning(u"Task %s: Failed to get CourseEmail with id %s", task_id, email_id)
         raise
 
     # Check to see if email batches have already been defined.  This seems to
@@ -182,21 +182,22 @@ def perform_delegate_email_batches(entry_id, course_id, task_input, action_name)
     # So we just return right away.  We don't raise an exception, because we want
     # the current task to be marked with whatever it had been marked with before.
     if len(entry.subtasks) > 0 and len(entry.task_output) > 0:
-        log.warning("Task %s has already been processed for email %s!  InstructorTask = %s", task_id, email_id, entry)
+        log.warning(u"Task %s has already been processed for email %s!  InstructorTask = %s", task_id, email_id, entry)
         progress = json.loads(entry.task_output)
         return progress
 
     # Sanity check that course for email_obj matches that of the task referencing it.
     if course_id != email_obj.course_id:
         format_msg = u"Course id conflict: explicit value %r does not match email value %r"
-        log.warning("Task %s: " + format_msg, task_id, course_id, email_obj.course_id)
+        log.warning(u"Task %s: " + format_msg, task_id, course_id, email_obj.course_id)
         raise ValueError(format_msg % (course_id, email_obj.course_id))
 
+
     # Fetch the course object.
     course = get_course(course_id)
 
     if course is None:
-        msg = "Task %s: course not found: %s"
+        msg = u"Task %s: course not found: %s"
         log.error(msg, task_id, course_id)
         raise ValueError(msg % (task_id, course_id))
 
@@ -282,7 +283,7 @@ def send_course_email(entry_id, email_id, to_list, global_email_context, subtask
     subtask_status = SubtaskStatus.from_dict(subtask_status_dict)
     current_task_id = subtask_status.task_id
     num_to_send = len(to_list)
-    log.info("Preparing to send email %s to %d recipients as subtask %s for instructor task %d: context = %s, status=%s",
+    log.info(u"Preparing to send email %s to %d recipients as subtask %s for instructor task %d: context = %s, status=%s",
              email_id, num_to_send, current_task_id, entry_id, global_email_context, subtask_status)
 
     # Check that the requested subtask is actually known to the current InstructorTask entry.
@@ -660,7 +661,7 @@ def _submit_for_retry(entry_id, email_id, to_list, global_email_context, current
         )
     except RetryTaskError as retry_error:
         # If the retry call is successful, update with the current progress:
-        log.exception('Task %s: email with id %d caused send_course_email task to retry.',
+        log.exception(u'Task %s: email with id %d caused send_course_email task to retry.',
                       task_id, email_id)
         return subtask_status, retry_error
     except Exception as retry_exc:
@@ -669,7 +670,7 @@ def _submit_for_retry(entry_id, email_id, to_list, global_email_context, current
         # (and put it in retry_exc just in case it's different, but it shouldn't be),
         # and update status as if it were any other failure.  That means that
         # the recipients still in the to_list are counted as failures.
-        log.exception('Task %s: email with id %d caused send_course_email task to fail to retry. To list: %s',
+        log.exception(u'Task %s: email with id %d caused send_course_email task to fail to retry. To list: %s',
                       task_id, email_id, [i['email'] for i in to_list])
         num_failed = len(to_list)
         subtask_status.increment(subtask_status, failed=num_failed, state=FAILURE)
@@ -680,5 +681,5 @@ def _statsd_tag(course_title):
     """
     Calculate the tag we will use for DataDog.
     """
-    tag = u"course_email:{0}".format(course_title)
+    tag = u"course_email:{0}".format(course_title).encode('utf-8')
     return tag[:200]
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/instructor_task/models.py b/lms/djangoapps/instructor_task/models.py
index d279028379..884c25f16c 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/instructor_task/models.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/instructor_task/models.py
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ class InstructorTask(models.Model):
         Truncation is indicated by adding "..." to the end of the value.
         """
         tag = '...'
-        task_progress = {'exception': type(exception).__name__, 'message': str(exception.message)}
+        task_progress = {'exception': type(exception).__name__, 'message': unicode(exception.message)}
         if traceback_string is not None:
             # truncate any traceback that goes into the InstructorTask model:
             task_progress['traceback'] = traceback_string
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/instructor_task/tasks_helper.py b/lms/djangoapps/instructor_task/tasks_helper.py
index e5e0be9397..41423ca94e 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/instructor_task/tasks_helper.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/instructor_task/tasks_helper.py
@@ -108,16 +108,16 @@ class BaseInstructorTask(Task):
         Note that there is no way to record progress made within the task (e.g. attempted,
         succeeded, etc.) when such failures occur.
         """
-        TASK_LOG.debug('Task %s: failure returned', task_id)
+        TASK_LOG.debug(u'Task %s: failure returned', task_id)
         entry_id = args[0]
         try:
             entry = InstructorTask.objects.get(pk=entry_id)
         except InstructorTask.DoesNotExist:
             # if the InstructorTask object does not exist, then there's no point
             # trying to update it.
-            TASK_LOG.error("Task (%s) has no InstructorTask object for id %s", task_id, entry_id)
+            TASK_LOG.error(u"Task (%s) has no InstructorTask object for id %s", task_id, entry_id)
         else:
-            TASK_LOG.warning("Task (%s) failed: %s %s", task_id, einfo.exception, einfo.traceback)
+            TASK_LOG.warning(u"Task (%s) failed", task_id, exc_info=True)
             entry.task_output = InstructorTask.create_output_for_failure(einfo.exception, einfo.traceback)
             entry.task_state = FAILURE
             entry.save_now()
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ def perform_module_state_update(update_fcn, filter_fcn, _entry_id, course_id, ta
         num_attempted += 1
         # There is no try here:  if there's an error, we let it throw, and the task will
         # be marked as FAILED, with a stack trace.
-        with dog_stats_api.timer('instructor_tasks.module.time.step', tags=['action:{name}'.format(name=action_name)]):
+        with dog_stats_api.timer('instructor_tasks.module.time.step', tags=[u'action:{name}'.format(name=action_name)]):
             update_status = update_fcn(module_descriptor, module_to_update)
             if update_status == UPDATE_STATUS_SUCCEEDED:
                 # If the update_fcn returns true, then it performed some kind of work.