diff --git a/common/djangoapps/student/migrations/0047_add_bio_field.py b/common/djangoapps/student/migrations/0047_add_bio_field.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ba1bfc1a98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/djangoapps/student/migrations/0047_add_bio_field.py
@@ -0,0 +1,194 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+from south.utils import datetime_utils as datetime
+from south.db import db
+from south.v2 import SchemaMigration
+from django.db import models
+
+
+class Migration(SchemaMigration):
+
+    def forwards(self, orm):
+        # Adding field 'UserProfile.bio'
+        db.add_column('auth_userprofile', 'bio',
+                      self.gf('django.db.models.fields.TextField')(null=True, blank=True),
+                      keep_default=False)
+
+
+    def backwards(self, orm):
+        # Deleting field 'UserProfile.bio'
+        db.delete_column('auth_userprofile', 'bio')
+
+
+    models = {
+        'auth.group': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'Group'},
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'unique': 'True', 'max_length': '80'}),
+            'permissions': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ManyToManyField', [], {'to': "orm['auth.Permission']", 'symmetrical': 'False', 'blank': 'True'})
+        },
+        'auth.permission': {
+            'Meta': {'ordering': "('content_type__app_label', 'content_type__model', 'codename')", 'unique_together': "(('content_type', 'codename'),)", 'object_name': 'Permission'},
+            'codename': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '100'}),
+            'content_type': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['contenttypes.ContentType']"}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '50'})
+        },
+        'auth.user': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'User'},
+            'date_joined': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'default': 'datetime.datetime.now'}),
+            'email': ('django.db.models.fields.EmailField', [], {'max_length': '75', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'first_name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '30', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'groups': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ManyToManyField', [], {'to': "orm['auth.Group']", 'symmetrical': 'False', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'is_active': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'True'}),
+            'is_staff': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'False'}),
+            'is_superuser': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'False'}),
+            'last_login': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'default': 'datetime.datetime.now'}),
+            'last_name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '30', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'password': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '128'}),
+            'user_permissions': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ManyToManyField', [], {'to': "orm['auth.Permission']", 'symmetrical': 'False', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'username': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'unique': 'True', 'max_length': '30'})
+        },
+        'contenttypes.contenttype': {
+            'Meta': {'ordering': "('name',)", 'unique_together': "(('app_label', 'model'),)", 'object_name': 'ContentType', 'db_table': "'django_content_type'"},
+            'app_label': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '100'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'model': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '100'}),
+            'name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '100'})
+        },
+        'student.anonymoususerid': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'AnonymousUserId'},
+            'anonymous_user_id': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'unique': 'True', 'max_length': '32'}),
+            'course_id': ('xmodule_django.models.CourseKeyField', [], {'db_index': 'True', 'max_length': '255', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']"})
+        },
+        'student.courseaccessrole': {
+            'Meta': {'unique_together': "(('user', 'org', 'course_id', 'role'),)", 'object_name': 'CourseAccessRole'},
+            'course_id': ('xmodule_django.models.CourseKeyField', [], {'db_index': 'True', 'max_length': '255', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'org': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'db_index': 'True', 'max_length': '64', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'role': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '64', 'db_index': 'True'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']"})
+        },
+        'student.courseenrollment': {
+            'Meta': {'ordering': "('user', 'course_id')", 'unique_together': "(('user', 'course_id'),)", 'object_name': 'CourseEnrollment'},
+            'course_id': ('xmodule_django.models.CourseKeyField', [], {'max_length': '255', 'db_index': 'True'}),
+            'created': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'auto_now_add': 'True', 'null': 'True', 'db_index': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'is_active': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'True'}),
+            'mode': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'default': "'honor'", 'max_length': '100'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']"})
+        },
+        'student.courseenrollmentallowed': {
+            'Meta': {'unique_together': "(('email', 'course_id'),)", 'object_name': 'CourseEnrollmentAllowed'},
+            'auto_enroll': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'False'}),
+            'course_id': ('xmodule_django.models.CourseKeyField', [], {'max_length': '255', 'db_index': 'True'}),
+            'created': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'auto_now_add': 'True', 'null': 'True', 'db_index': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'email': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '255', 'db_index': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'})
+        },
+        'student.dashboardconfiguration': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'DashboardConfiguration'},
+            'change_date': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'auto_now_add': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'changed_by': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']", 'null': 'True', 'on_delete': 'models.PROTECT'}),
+            'enabled': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'False'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'recent_enrollment_time_delta': ('django.db.models.fields.PositiveIntegerField', [], {'default': '0'})
+        },
+        'student.entranceexamconfiguration': {
+            'Meta': {'unique_together': "(('user', 'course_id'),)", 'object_name': 'EntranceExamConfiguration'},
+            'course_id': ('xmodule_django.models.CourseKeyField', [], {'max_length': '255', 'db_index': 'True'}),
+            'created': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'auto_now_add': 'True', 'null': 'True', 'db_index': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'skip_entrance_exam': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'True'}),
+            'updated': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'auto_now': 'True', 'db_index': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']"})
+        },
+        'student.linkedinaddtoprofileconfiguration': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'LinkedInAddToProfileConfiguration'},
+            'change_date': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'auto_now_add': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'changed_by': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']", 'null': 'True', 'on_delete': 'models.PROTECT'}),
+            'company_identifier': ('django.db.models.fields.TextField', [], {}),
+            'dashboard_tracking_code': ('django.db.models.fields.TextField', [], {'default': "''", 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'enabled': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'False'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'trk_partner_name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'default': "''", 'max_length': '10', 'blank': 'True'})
+        },
+        'student.loginfailures': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'LoginFailures'},
+            'failure_count': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {'default': '0'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'lockout_until': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'null': 'True'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']"})
+        },
+        'student.passwordhistory': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'PasswordHistory'},
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'password': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '128'}),
+            'time_set': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'default': 'datetime.datetime.now'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']"})
+        },
+        'student.pendingemailchange': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'PendingEmailChange'},
+            'activation_key': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'unique': 'True', 'max_length': '32', 'db_index': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'new_email': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'db_index': 'True', 'max_length': '255', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.OneToOneField', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']", 'unique': 'True'})
+        },
+        'student.pendingnamechange': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'PendingNameChange'},
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'new_name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '255', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'rationale': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '1024', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.OneToOneField', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']", 'unique': 'True'})
+        },
+        'student.registration': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'Registration', 'db_table': "'auth_registration'"},
+            'activation_key': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'unique': 'True', 'max_length': '32', 'db_index': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']", 'unique': 'True'})
+        },
+        'student.userprofile': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'UserProfile', 'db_table': "'auth_userprofile'"},
+            'allow_certificate': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'True'}),
+            'bio': ('django.db.models.fields.TextField', [], {'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'city': ('django.db.models.fields.TextField', [], {'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'country': ('django_countries.fields.CountryField', [], {'max_length': '2', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'courseware': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'default': "'course.xml'", 'max_length': '255', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'gender': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'db_index': 'True', 'max_length': '6', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'goals': ('django.db.models.fields.TextField', [], {'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'language': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'db_index': 'True', 'max_length': '255', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'level_of_education': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'db_index': 'True', 'max_length': '6', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'location': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'db_index': 'True', 'max_length': '255', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'mailing_address': ('django.db.models.fields.TextField', [], {'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'meta': ('django.db.models.fields.TextField', [], {'blank': 'True'}),
+            'name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'db_index': 'True', 'max_length': '255', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.OneToOneField', [], {'related_name': "'profile'", 'unique': 'True', 'to': "orm['auth.User']"}),
+            'year_of_birth': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {'db_index': 'True', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'})
+        },
+        'student.usersignupsource': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'UserSignupSource'},
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'site': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '255', 'db_index': 'True'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']"})
+        },
+        'student.userstanding': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'UserStanding'},
+            'account_status': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '31', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'changed_by': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']", 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'standing_last_changed_at': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'auto_now': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'user': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'related_name': "'standing'", 'unique': 'True', 'to': "orm['auth.User']"})
+        },
+        'student.usertestgroup': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'UserTestGroup'},
+            'description': ('django.db.models.fields.TextField', [], {'blank': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '32', 'db_index': 'True'}),
+            'users': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ManyToManyField', [], {'to': "orm['auth.User']", 'db_index': 'True', 'symmetrical': 'False'})
+        }
+    }
+
+    complete_apps = ['student']
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/common/djangoapps/student/models.py b/common/djangoapps/student/models.py
index cc5a3f9fd4..3080181a6d 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/student/models.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/student/models.py
@@ -249,6 +249,7 @@ class UserProfile(models.Model):
     country = CountryField(blank=True, null=True)
     goals = models.TextField(blank=True, null=True)
     allow_certificate = models.BooleanField(default=1)
+    bio = models.TextField(blank=True, null=True)
 
     def get_meta(self):  # pylint: disable=missing-docstring
         js_str = self.meta
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/serializers.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/serializers.py
index 8cef22a90a..40b572cc9c 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/serializers.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/serializers.py
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ class AccountLegacyProfileSerializer(serializers.HyperlinkedModelSerializer):
     class Meta:
         model = UserProfile
         fields = (
-            "name", "gender", "goals", "year_of_birth", "level_of_education", "language", "country", "mailing_address"
+            "name", "gender", "goals", "year_of_birth", "level_of_education", "language", "country",
+            "mailing_address", "bio"
         )
         # Currently no read-only field, but keep this so view code doesn't need to know.
         read_only_fields = ()
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/tests/test_views.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/tests/test_views.py
index 09c406779a..38e62f2577 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/tests/test_views.py
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ class UserAPITestCase(APITestCase):
         legacy_profile.year_of_birth = 1900
         legacy_profile.goals = "world peace"
         legacy_profile.mailing_address = "Park Ave"
+        legacy_profile.bio = "Tired mother of twins"
         legacy_profile.save()
 
 
@@ -110,7 +111,7 @@ class TestAccountAPI(UserAPITestCase):
         self.assertIsNone(data["profile_image"])
         self.assertIsNone(data["time_zone"])
         self.assertIsNone(data["languages"])
-        self.assertIsNone(data["bio"])
+        self.assertEqual("Tired mother of twins", data["bio"])
 
     def _verify_private_account_response(self, response):
         """
@@ -139,6 +140,7 @@ class TestAccountAPI(UserAPITestCase):
         self.assertEqual(self.user.email, data["email"])
         self.assertTrue(data["is_active"])
         self.assertIsNotNone(data["date_joined"])
+        self.assertEqual("Tired mother of twins", data["bio"])
 
     def test_anonymous_access(self):
         """
@@ -243,7 +245,7 @@ class TestAccountAPI(UserAPITestCase):
             self.assertEqual(12, len(data))
             self.assertEqual(self.user.username, data["username"])
             self.assertEqual(self.user.first_name + " " + self.user.last_name, data["name"])
-            for empty_field in ("year_of_birth", "level_of_education", "mailing_address"):
+            for empty_field in ("year_of_birth", "level_of_education", "mailing_address", "bio"):
                 self.assertIsNone(data[empty_field])
             self.assertIsNone(data["country"])
             # TODO: what should the format of this be?
@@ -316,6 +318,10 @@ class TestAccountAPI(UserAPITestCase):
         ("language", "Creole"),
         ("goals", "Smell the roses"),
         ("mailing_address", "Sesame Street"),
+        ("bio", "Lacrosse-playing superhero"),
+        ("bio", u"壓是進界推日不復女"),
+        # Note that we store the raw data, so it is up to client to escape the HTML.
+        ("bio", "<html>fancy text</html>"),
         # Note that email is tested below, as it is not immediately updated.
     )
     @ddt.unpack
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/views.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/views.py
index 4bc9f9d57d..7d969127a5 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/views.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/views.py
@@ -38,12 +38,13 @@ class AccountView(APIView):
 
                 * name: The full name of the user.
 
-                * email: The confirmed email address for the user. The request
-                  will not return an unconfirmed email address.
+                * email: email for the user (the new email address must be
+                    confirmed via a confirmation email, so GET will not reflect
+                    the change until the address has been confirmed).
 
-                * date_joined: The date the account was created, in
-                  the string format provided by datetime (for example,
-                  "2014-08-26T17:52:11Z").
+                * date_joined: The date the account was created, in the string
+                    format provided by datetime.
+                    For example, "2014-08-26T17:52:11Z".
 
                 * gender: One of the fullowing values:
 
@@ -77,6 +78,14 @@ class AccountView(APIView):
 
                 * goals: The textual representation of the user's goals, or null.
 
+                * bio: null or textural representation of user biographical
+                    information ("about me")
+
+            For all text fields, clients rendering the values should take care
+            to HTML escape them to avoid script injections, as the data is
+            stored exactly as specified. The intention is that plain text is
+            supported, not HTML.
+
             If a user who does not have "is_staff" access requests account
             information for a different user, only a subset of these fields is
             returned. The fields returned depend on the configuration setting