diff --git a/jupyterhub/app.py b/jupyterhub/app.py
index 7410089e..0ec5355c 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/app.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/app.py
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ import re
 import signal
 import socket
 import sys
+import json
+from glob import glob
 from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
 from datetime import datetime
 from datetime import timezone
@@ -87,6 +89,7 @@ from .auth import Authenticator, PAMAuthenticator
 from .crypto import CryptKeeper
 from .spawner import Spawner, LocalProcessSpawner
 from .objects import Hub, Server
+from .events import EventLog
 
 # For faking stats
 from .emptyclass import EmptyClass
@@ -2069,6 +2072,7 @@ class JupyterHub(Application):
             internal_ssl_ca=self.internal_ssl_ca,
             trusted_alt_names=self.trusted_alt_names,
             shutdown_on_logout=self.shutdown_on_logout,
+            event_log=self.event_log
         )
         # allow configured settings to have priority
         settings.update(self.tornado_settings)
@@ -2144,6 +2148,12 @@ class JupyterHub(Application):
         _log_cls("Authenticator", self.authenticator_class)
         _log_cls("Spawner", self.spawner_class)
 
+        self.event_log = EventLog(parent=self)
+
+        for schema_file in glob(os.path.join(here, 'event-schemas','*.json')):
+            with open(schema_file) as f:
+                self.event_log.register_schema(json.load(f))
+
         self.init_pycurl()
         self.init_secrets()
         self.init_internal_ssl()
diff --git a/jupyterhub/event-schemas/server-actions.json b/jupyterhub/event-schemas/server-actions.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0b390aa4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jupyterhub/event-schemas/server-actions.json
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+{
+    "$id": "hub.jupyter.org/server-action",
+    "version": 1,
+    "title": "JupyterHub server events",
+    "description": "JupyterHub emits this event when a user's server starts or stops",
+    "type": "object",
+    "properties": {
+        "action": {
+            "enum": [
+                "start",
+                "stop"
+            ],
+            "description": "Action taken on this user's server"
+        },
+        "username": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "description": "Name of the user whose server this action applies to"
+        },
+        "servername": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "description": "Name of the server this action applies to"
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/jupyterhub/events.py b/jupyterhub/events.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..14b9f1d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jupyterhub/events.py
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+"""
+Emit structured, discrete events when various actions happen.
+"""
+from traitlets.config import Configurable
+
+import logging
+from datetime import datetime
+import jsonschema
+from pythonjsonlogger import jsonlogger
+from traitlets import TraitType
+import json
+import six
+
+
+class Callable(TraitType):
+    """
+    A trait which is callable.
+
+    Classes are callable, as are instances
+    with a __call__() method.
+    """
+    info_text = 'a callable'
+    def validate(self, obj, value):
+        if six.callable(value):
+            return value
+        else:
+            self.error(obj, value)
+
+def _skip_message(record, **kwargs):
+    """
+    Remove 'message' from log record.
+
+    It is always emitted with 'null', and we do not want it,
+    since we are always emitting events only
+    """
+    del record['message']
+    return json.dumps(record, **kwargs)
+
+
+class EventLog(Configurable):
+    """
+    Send structured events to a logging sink
+    """
+    handlers_maker = Callable(
+        None,
+        config=True,
+        allow_none=True,
+        help="""
+        Callable that returns a list of logging.Handler instances to send events to.
+
+        When set to None (the default), events are discarded.
+        """
+    )
+
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+        self.log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+        # We don't want events to show up in the default logs
+        self.log.propagate = False
+        self.log.setLevel(logging.INFO)
+
+        if self.handlers_maker:
+            self.handlers = self.handlers_maker(self)
+            formatter = jsonlogger.JsonFormatter(json_serializer=_skip_message)
+            for handler in self.handlers:
+                handler.setFormatter(formatter)
+                self.log.addHandler(handler)
+
+        self.schemas = {}
+
+    def register_schema(self, schema):
+        """
+        Register a given JSON Schema with this event emitter
+
+        'version' and '$id' are required fields.
+        """
+        # Check if our schema itself is valid
+        # This throws an exception if it isn't valid
+        jsonschema.validators.validator_for(schema).check_schema(schema)
+
+        # Check that the properties we require are present
+        required_schema_fields = {'$id', 'version'}
+        for rsf in required_schema_fields:
+            if rsf not in schema:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f'{rsf} is required in schema specification'
+                )
+
+        # Make sure reserved, auto-added fields are not in schema
+        reserved_fields = {'timestamp', 'schema', 'version'}
+        for rf in reserved_fields:
+            if rf in schema['properties']:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f'{rf} field is reserved by event emitter & can not be explicitly set in schema'
+                )
+
+        self.schemas[(schema['$id'], schema['version'])] = schema
+
+    def emit(self, schema_name, version, event):
+        """
+        Emit event with given schema / version in a capsule.
+        """
+        if not self.handlers_maker:
+            # If we don't have a handler setup, ignore everything
+            return
+
+        if (schema_name, version) not in self.schemas:
+            raise ValueError(f'Schema {schema_name} version {version} not registered')
+        schema = self.schemas[(schema_name, version)]
+        jsonschema.validate(event, schema)
+
+        capsule = {
+            'timestamp': datetime.utcnow().isoformat() + 'Z',
+            'schema': schema_name,
+            'version': version
+        }
+        capsule.update(event)
+        self.log.info(capsule)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/jupyterhub/handlers/base.py b/jupyterhub/handlers/base.py
index 19504c9c..19dfd467 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/handlers/base.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/handlers/base.py
@@ -156,6 +156,10 @@ class BaseHandler(RequestHandler):
     def oauth_provider(self):
         return self.settings['oauth_provider']
 
+    @property
+    def event_log(self):
+        return self.settings['event_log']
+
     def finish(self, *args, **kwargs):
         """Roll back any uncommitted transactions from the handler."""
         if self.db.dirty:
@@ -846,6 +850,11 @@ class BaseHandler(RequestHandler):
             SERVER_SPAWN_DURATION_SECONDS.labels(
                 status=ServerSpawnStatus.success
             ).observe(time.perf_counter() - spawn_start_time)
+            self.event_log.emit('hub.jupyter.org/server-action', 1, {
+                    'action': 'start',
+                    'username': user.name,
+                    'servername': server_name
+            })
             proxy_add_start_time = time.perf_counter()
             spawner._proxy_pending = True
             try:
@@ -1026,6 +1035,11 @@ class BaseHandler(RequestHandler):
                 SERVER_STOP_DURATION_SECONDS.labels(
                     status=ServerStopStatus.success
                 ).observe(toc - tic)
+                self.event_log.emit('hub.jupyter.org/server-action', 1, {
+                        'action': 'stop',
+                        'username': user.name,
+                        'servername': server_name
+                })
             except:
                 SERVER_STOP_DURATION_SECONDS.labels(
                     status=ServerStopStatus.failure