diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/__init__.py b/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e69de29bb2d1
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/models.py b/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/models.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fb2536137b11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+from django.db import models
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+
+class Email(models.Model):
+    sender = models.ForeignKey(User, default=1, blank=True, null=True)
+    hash = models.CharField(max_length=128, db_index=True)
+    subject = models.CharField(max_length=128, blank=True)
+    html_message = models.TextField(null=True, blank=True)
+    created = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
+    modified = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)
+    class Meta:
+        abstract = True
+
+class CourseEmail(Email, models.Model):
+    course_id = models.CharField(max_length=255, db_index=True)
+    to = models.CharField(max_length=64)
+
+    def __unicode__(self):
+        return self.subject
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tasks.py b/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tasks.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..157d59ba0fbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tasks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+from celery import task
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from bulk_email.models import *
+
+import math
+
+EMAILS_PER_WORKER=getattr(settings, 'EMAILS_PER_WORKER', 10)
+
+@task()
+def delegate_emails(hash_for_msg, recipient, course):
+    '''
+    Delegates emails by querying for the list of recipients who should
+    get the mail, chopping up into batches of EMAILS_PER_WORKER size,
+    and queueing up worker jobs.
+
+    Recipient is {'students', 'staff', or 'all'}
+
+    Returns the number of batches (workers) kicked off.
+    '''
+
+    recipient_qset = User.objects.all()
+    if recipient == "students":
+        #get student list
+        pass
+    elif recipient == "staff":
+        #get staff list
+        pass
+    else:
+        #everyone
+        pass
+    recipient_list = list(recipient_qset)
+
+    total_num_emails = recipient_qset.count()
+    num_workers=int(math.ceil(float(total_num_emails)/float(EMAILS_PER_WORKER)))
+    chunk=int(math.ceil(float(total_num_emails)/float(num_workers)))
+
+    for i in range(num_workers):
+        to_list=recipient_list[i*chunk:i*chunk+chunk]
+        course_email.delay(hash_for_msg, to_list, False, course)
+    return num_workers
+
+
+@task(default_retry_delay=15, max_retries=5)
+def course_email(hash_for_msg, to_list, course, throttle=False):
+    """                                                                                                   
+    Takes a subject and an html formatted email and sends it from
+    sender to all addresses in the to_list, with each recipient
+    being the only "to".  Emails are sent multipart, in both plain
+    text and html.  
+    """
+
+    msg = CourseEmail.objects.get(hash=hash_for_msg)
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tests/__init__.py b/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tests/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e69de29bb2d1
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tests/tests.py b/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tests/tests.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..396a9d50633d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/bulk_email/tests/tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+"""
+Unit tests for email feature in instructor dashboard
+
+Based on (and depends on) unit tests for courseware.
+"""
+
+from django.test.utils import override_settings
+
+# Need access to internal func to put users in the right group
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
+
+from courseware.access import _course_staff_group_name
+from courseware.tests.tests import LoginEnrollmentTestCase, TEST_DATA_XML_MODULESTORE, get_user
+from xmodule.modulestore.django import modulestore
+import xmodule.modulestore.django
+
+@override_settings(MODULESTORE=TEST_DATA_XML_MODULESTORE)
+class TestInstructorDashboardEmailView(LoginEnrollmentTestCase):
+    '''
+    Check for email view displayed with flag
+    '''
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        xmodule.modulestore.django._MODULESTORES = {}
+        
+        self.toy = modulestore().get_course("edX/toy/2012_Fall")
+        
+        # Create instructor account
+        self.instructor = 'view@test.com'
+        self.password = 'foo'
+        self.create_account('u1', self.instructor, self.password)
+        self.activate_user(self.instructor)
+
+        group_name = _course_staff_group_name(self.toy.location)
+        g = Group.objects.create(name=group_name)
+        g.user_set.add(get_user(self.instructor))
+
+        self.logout()
+        self.login(self.instructor, self.password)
+        self.enroll(self.toy)
+
+    def test_email_flag_true(self):
+        oldEmailFlag = settings.MITX_FEATURES['ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_EMAIL']
+        settings.MITX_FEATURES['ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_EMAIL'] = True
+        response = self.client.get(reverse('instructor_dashboard',
+                                   kwargs={'course_id': self.toy.id}))
+        email_link = '<a href="#" onclick="goto(\'Email\')" class="None">Email</a>'
+        self.assertTrue(email_link in response.content)
+
+        session = self.client.session
+        session['idash_mode'] = 'Email'
+        session.save()
+        response = self.client.get(reverse('instructor_dashboard',
+                                   kwargs={'course_id': self.toy.id}))
+        selected_email_link = '<a href="#" onclick="goto(\'Email\')" class="selectedmode">Email</a>'
+        self.assertTrue(selected_email_link in response.content)
+        send_to_label = '<label for="id_to">Send to:</label>'
+        self.assertTrue(send_to_label in response.content)
+
+        del self.client.session['idash_mode']
+        settings.MITX_FEATURES['ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_EMAIL'] = oldEmailFlag
+
+    def test_email_flag_false(self):
+        oldEmailFlag = settings.MITX_FEATURES['ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_EMAIL']
+        settings.MITX_FEATURES['ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_EMAIL'] = False
+        response = self.client.get(reverse('instructor_dashboard',
+                                   kwargs={'course_id': self.toy.id}))
+        email_link = '<a href="#" onclick="goto(\'Email\')" class="None">Email</a>'
+        self.assertFalse(email_link in response.content)
+        
+        settings.MITX_FEATURES['ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_EMAIL'] = oldEmailFlag
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/instructor/views.py b/lms/djangoapps/instructor/views.py
index f221d35a1b8d..39d44f7ffd3f 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/instructor/views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/instructor/views.py
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@
 
 from .offline_gradecalc import student_grades, offline_grades_available
 
+from bulk_email.models import CourseEmail
+import datetime
+from hashlib import md5
+from bulk_email.tasks import delegate_emails
+
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 # internal commands for managing forum roles:
@@ -586,7 +591,24 @@ def getdat(u):
             ret = _do_enroll_students(course, course_id, students, overload=overload)
             datatable = ret['datatable']
 
-
+    #----------------------------------------
+    # email
+
+    elif action == 'Send email':
+        to = request.POST.get("to")
+        subject = request.POST.get("subject")
+        html_message = request.POST.get("message")
+
+        email = CourseEmail(course_id=course_id,
+                            sender=request.user,
+                            to=to,
+                            subject=subject,
+                            html_message=html_message,
+                            hash=md5((html_message+subject+datetime.datetime.isoformat(datetime.datetime.now())).encode('utf-8')).hexdigest())
+        email.save()
+
+        delegate_emails(email.hash, email.to, course)
+        
     #----------------------------------------
     # psychometrics
 
diff --git a/lms/envs/common.py b/lms/envs/common.py
index b2c6f15c393f..123285e1303f 100644
--- a/lms/envs/common.py
+++ b/lms/envs/common.py
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@
     # analytics experiments
     'ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_ANALYTICS': False,
 
+    'ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_EMAIL': False,
+
     # Flip to True when the YouTube iframe API breaks (again)
     'USE_YOUTUBE_OBJECT_API': False,
 
@@ -694,6 +696,7 @@
     'psychometrics',
     'licenses',
     'course_groups',
+    'bulk_email',
 
     #For the wiki
     'wiki',   # The new django-wiki from benjaoming
diff --git a/lms/envs/dev.py b/lms/envs/dev.py
index 17bce9399198..ccf85e519c87 100644
--- a/lms/envs/dev.py
+++ b/lms/envs/dev.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 MITX_FEATURES['ENABLE_PSYCHOMETRICS'] = False    # real-time psychometrics (eg item response theory analysis in instructor dashboard)
 MITX_FEATURES['ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_ANALYTICS'] = True
 MITX_FEATURES['ENABLE_SERVICE_STATUS'] = True
+MITX_FEATURES['ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_EMAIL'] = True
 
 WIKI_ENABLED = True
 
diff --git a/lms/templates/courseware/instructor_dashboard.html b/lms/templates/courseware/instructor_dashboard.html
index 8f84109626c9..f1f304830a34 100644
--- a/lms/templates/courseware/instructor_dashboard.html
+++ b/lms/templates/courseware/instructor_dashboard.html
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
   <script type="text/javascript" src="${static.url('js/vendor/jquery-jvectormap-1.1.1/jquery-jvectormap-1.1.1.min.js')}"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="${static.url('js/vendor/jquery-jvectormap-1.1.1/jquery-jvectormap-world-mill-en.js')}"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="${static.url('js/course_groups/cohorts.js')}"></script>
+  <script type="text/javascript" src="${static.url('js/vendor/tiny_mce/jquery.tinymce.js')}"></script>
 
 </%block>
 
@@ -111,6 +112,9 @@ <h2>[ <a href="#" onclick="goto('Grades');" class="${modeflag.get('Grades')}">Gr
           <a href="#" onclick="goto('Enrollment');" class="${modeflag.get('Enrollment')}">Enrollment</a> |
           <a href="#" onclick="goto('Data');" class="${modeflag.get('Data')}">DataDump</a> |
           <a href="#" onclick="goto('Manage Groups');" class="${modeflag.get('Manage Groups')}">Manage Groups</a>
+          %if settings.MITX_FEATURES.get('ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_EMAIL'):
+             | <a href="#" onclick="goto('Email')" class="${modeflag.get('Email')}">Email</a>
+          %endif
           %if settings.MITX_FEATURES.get('ENABLE_INSTRUCTOR_ANALYTICS'):
              | <a href="#" onclick="goto('Analytics');" class="${modeflag.get('Analytics')}">Analytics</a> 
           %endif
@@ -365,6 +369,26 @@ <H2>Student-specific grade inspection and adjustment</h2>
   %endif
 %endif
 
+##-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+%if modeflag.get('Email'):
+    <p>
+    <label for="id_to">Send to:</label>
+    <select id="id_to" name="to">
+      <option value="students">All Students</option>
+      <option value="staff">All Course Staff</option>
+      <option value="all">All (students and staff)</option>
+    </select>
+    <label for="id_subject">Subject: </label>
+    <input type="text" id="id_subject" name="subject" maxlength="100" size="75">
+    <label for="id_message">Message:</label>
+    <textarea cols="100" id="id_message" name="message"></textarea>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+    <input type="submit" name="action" value="Send email">
+    </p>
+%endif
+
     </form>
 ##-----------------------------------------------------------------------------