diff --git a/dhub/settings.py b/dhub/settings.py
index 8b77fd7..23ea1a6 100644
--- a/dhub/settings.py
+++ b/dhub/settings.py
@@ -132,11 +132,14 @@ AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
 
 LANGUAGE_CODE = "en-us"
 
-TIME_ZONE = "UTC"
+TIME_ZONE = config("TIME_ZONE", default="UTC")
 
 USE_I18N = True
 
-USE_TZ = True
+USE_TZ = False
+
+if TIME_ZONE == "UTC":
+    USE_TZ = True
 
 
 # Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)