NAMES & FACES

University of Maryland professor Michael Olmert is on a 3-0 winning streak with the Emmys.

Olmert, 66, picked up his third trophy from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on Saturday at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards for his writing on the Discovery Channel/BBC animated program "Before the Dinosaurs."

"I just think I'm pretty lucky, that's all," he told us yesterday. "I'm wildly grateful."

Olmert was also nominated and won Emmys for dinosaur-themed stories in 2000 ("Big Allosaurus") and 2001 ("Walking With Prehistoric Beasts").

"I'm turning into Barney here," he joked. Olmert has been writing for TV for more than 20 years -- about the same amount of time that he's spent teaching English at Maryland. "The students are just thrilled," he said. "I've gotten a lot of e-mails."

Golden statue No. 3 is perched safely on a bookcase in Olmert's house on the Eastern Shore after its journey home from Los Angeles in a styrofoam box. Although airport security is tight, Olmert said screeners weren't fazed by the statue's pointy wings and substantial weight. "You could hijack a plane with that thing," he said, laughing. "It looked dangerous as heck to me."

The star-filled Primetime Emmy Awards will take place Sunday, but Olmert said he did a little stargazing of his own at his less glitzy ceremony.

"I did see James Woods ," he said. "And that blond handsome guy from 'Boston Legal' [ Mark Valley ]. He's a hunk, but he was short."

Extra Credits

A few budding Urkels might be just an after-school program away.

Kellie Williams , best known for her role as Laura Winslow on the long-running sitcom "Family Matters," is back in her home town of Washington and ready to spread a little Hollywood wisdom.

Williams, 30, is launching a supplementary arts program at the William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts to foster the acting talents of local kids. "The goal of this program is not to make you a camera operator or singer or actor," she told us yesterday. "It's just to give you that exposure."

After all, that's how she got her start, in an after-school theater program at Howard University. "I was learning about Shakespeare when I was 10," she said. Most kids won't wind up in Hollywood, she knows, but that's not her purpose. "You may never leave Southeast, but you get to travel the world [through plays], and that gives you options," she added.