diff --git a/symposion/boxes/utils.py b/symposion/boxes/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..24b95c69bac9a35cc1be97ba4898bf23c1273818
--- /dev/null
+++ b/symposion/boxes/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
+try:
+    from django.utils.importlib import import_module
+except ImportError:
+    from importlib import import_module
+
+
+def load_path_attr(path):
+    i = path.rfind(".")
+    module, attr = path[:i], path[i+1:]
+    try:
+        mod = import_module(module)
+    except ImportError, e:
+        raise ImproperlyConfigured("Error importing %s: '%s'" % (module, e))
+    try:
+        attr = getattr(mod, attr)
+    except AttributeError:
+        raise ImproperlyConfigured("Module '%s' does not define a '%s'" % (module, attr))
+    return attr