- date_default_timezone_set: documentation ( source)
- strtotime: documentation ( source)
<?php
date_default_timezone_set("UTC");
$raw_data = strtotime("7/19/2014 8:00" . " " . "CST");
$timestamp = DateTime::createFromFormat('n/j/Y G:i T', $raw_data);
echo $timestamp->format('Y-m-d G:i:s');
?>