diff --git a/openid-connect-server/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/util/DateUtil.java b/openid-connect-server/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/util/DateUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b35dffdfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openid-connect-server/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/util/DateUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2014 arielak.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.mitre.openid.connect.util;
+
+import java.text.ParseException;
+import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
+import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.TimeZone;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+/**
+ *
+ * @author arielak
+ */
+public class DateUtil {
+    private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(DateUtil.class);
+    private static final String ISO_FORMAT = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ";
+    private static final SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(ISO_FORMAT);
+    private static final TimeZone utc = TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC");    
+    
+    public static String toUTCString(Date date) {
+        if (date == null) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        sdf.setTimeZone(utc);
+        return sdf.format(date);
+    }
+
+    public static Date utcToDate(String s) {
+        if (s == null) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        Date d = null;
+        try {
+            d = sdf.parse(s);
+        } catch(ParseException ex) {
+            log.error("Unable to parse date string {}", s, ex);
+        }
+        return d;
+    }
+}