WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State John Kerry has chosen the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson, as the site of his first foreign policy speech since joining President Barack Obama's Cabinet.

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State Department officials say Kerry will speak to students and faculty next Wednesday about the importance of robust U.S. diplomacy and connections between it and the lives of ordinary Americans. The address will be the first in a series Kerry plans to give to domestic audiences to explain what the public gets out of government investment in foreign affairs, which accounts for about 1 percent of the federal budget.

The speech at the university that Jefferson founded in Charlottesville, Virginia, will come days before Kerry leaves on his first overseas trip as secretary of state, to Europe and the Mideast.